State Attorney's Office not willing to prosecute for domestic violence as a result
Photos for Headline Surfer® / Another chapter in George Zimmerman's life concludes with no charges filed in domestic violence case alleged by his estranged wife, Shellie, shown here in court with him during his murder trial. Later, he's shown cuffed after his wife claimed he displayed a gun (which she later recanted), punched her dad in the nose and shattered her iPad, like the one shown here. LAKE MARY -- George Zimmerman won't be arrested on domestic violence charges in connection with a Sept. 9 argument with his estranged wife, Shellie, and her father, David Dean at a home on Sprucewood Court they were living in, during which he she claimed he shattered her iPad, Lake Mary cops announced today.
Zimmerman, 30, the former neighborhood watch volunteer found not guilty of second-degree murder back in July at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center in Sanford of the gunshot slaying of 17-year-old unarmed Trayvon Martin, countered his wife's claim, saying his wife struck him with the iPad.
"The circuit board was broken into two pieces," police said in a 32-page report released with their announcement, adding of the damage: A chip was missing and the board with the microprocessor was bent. Connections also had been had been detached as a result of the destruction.
George Zimmerman is all smiles after his acquittal is announced at his murder trial in Sanford back in July. In the center is the posh Lake Mary home he and his wife shared and at right is the police response to Shellie Zimmerman's claim of domestic violence.
Lake Mary police investigators sent what was left of the shattered iPad to a computer expert, Jonathan Jacobs, with the U.S. Secret Service in Tulsa, Okla., in hopes of the video being captured, but in the police report findings, he concluded: "No further examination is possible at this lab due to the severely damaged components."
Lake Mary police investigators sent what was left of the shattered iPad to a computer expert, Jonathan Jacobs, with the U.S. Secret Service in Tulsa, Okla., in hopes of the video being captured, but in the police report findings, he concluded: "No further examination is possible at this lab due to the severely damaged components."
Five days after she filed for divorce and three weeks after they separated, Shellie Zimmerman and her father were moving out her belongings on Sept. 9, when she called 9-1-1, claiming George Zimmerman threatened her by displaying a gun (a claim she later backed off of) and punched her father in the nose in the garage.
Police caught up with Zimmerman a short time later that day, ordered him to the ground at gunpoint, but found no gun on him, though they conceded they didn't check his vehicle, later claiming they had no probable cause to do so.
Zimmerman was handcuffed and taken into custody for further questioning, but not charged after Shellie Zimmerman and her father decided they didn't want to pursue criminal charges.
However, because of alleged domestic violence claims of a gun being shown in a potentially threatening way and the father being punched, police were obligated under state statutes to investigate the incident. And the iPad was critical to the claims of Shellie Zimmerman and her father.
She told cops Zimmerman busted open the iPad, tore it apart and tossed it on the ground, which was captured on a security camera at the house, though that house camera did not show any alleged physical confrontation by Zimmerman against her or her father, including the accusation that he brandished his gun.
Shellie Zimmerman is shown here at a Lake Mary press conference in September with her attorney, Kelly Sims, after allegations she made of domestic violence against her estranged husband, George Zimmerman.
Lake Mary police notified the State Attorney's Office in Sanford Wednesday of their findings and the prosecutor's office subsequently the following predictable outcome that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute George Zimmerman, a decision scoffed at by Kelly Sims, the attorney retained by Shellie Zimmerman, who described it to the Orlando Sentinel as "a shame. … I don't know this science very well. I was hoping smarter people than me could locate it. ...I was hopeful."
So what prompted the domestic dispute in the first place? The couple was arguing about how to divide up "pots and pans," said George Zimmerman's lead trial attorney, Mark O'Mara.
So what prompted the domestic dispute in the first place? The couple was arguing about how to divide up "pots and pans," said George Zimmerman's lead trial attorney, Mark O'Mara.
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