George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing teenager Trayvon Martin in a trial last July but in the year since, Zimmerman has fallen into a prison of debt that has reportedly left him penniless.
It was in July of 2013 that a Florida jury acquitted Zimmerman of charges that he murdered Martin during a scuffle in a gated community in Sanford. The 30-year-old former Neighborhood Watch volunteer mistook Martin for a burglar and the two got into a scuffle that ended with Zimmerman firing a fatal shot into Martin’s chest.
Though he remains free, George Zimmerman has had his share of troubles since the acquittal. His estranged wife called the police on Zimmerman last year, claiming that he threatened her with a gun. Divorce records filed in Florida also show that Zimmerman was left with astronomical legal fees after the trial and no home to call his own.
According to records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel , Zimmerman reported just $14,000 in assets — his pickup truck — while listing $2.5 million in legal bills.
The paperwork indicated that George Zimmerman has no job, pays nothing for rent or a mortgage, and is without health insurance.
The Orlando Sentinel reported:
“He spends $350 a month for medical care plus $200 a month for psychological, psychiatric or mental health counseling. He also spends $100 a month on vacations.”
“Zimmerman’s legal defense fund, which raised more than $400,000, now has a balance of $300, according to the affidavit.”
“It is not clear what happened to any money he earned from the sale of a painting on eBay in December. The winning bid was $100,000. There is no mention of it in his affidavit.”
Zimmerman also just lost a chance for some financial reparations . He had filed a lawsuit against NBC, claiming that the network altered the audio of a 911 call to make him sound like a racist.
George Zimmerman had claimed that NBC deliberately edited the recording to make it sound like he suspected Trayvon Martin of being a criminal simply because he was black, but a judge ruled that he could not prove the editing “resulted in a materially false change in the meaning of what he actually said.”
Although he may have escaped prison for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman will continue to live with the negative consequences of his actions, no doubt for the rest of his life.