George Zimmerman's Wife Now Has Doubts About His Innocence

By Dodai Stewart  |  September 26, 2013 | 3:50pm
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Shellie Zimmerman — wife of George Zimmerman, the man who shot unarmed teen Trayvon Martin — was on Today this morning, and seemed freaked out and conflicted as she told Matt Lauer “I know my husband” in one sentence and “I don’t know him” in another.

On September 5, Shellie filed for divorce. On September 9, George Zimmerman was taken into custody following a domestic dispute with Shellie, in which she claimed he was threatening her and her parents with a gun. Today, Shellie admitted to Lauer that she did not actually see a gun in George’s hand, “But I know my husband… I saw him in a stance — and a look in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, and he was putting his hand in his shirt, and saying, ‘Please step closer. Please step closer.’ I logically assumed he had a gun on him.” At the time, she said to a 911 operator: “I don’t know he’s capable of.” And this morning, she said it again: “I really don’t know what he’s capable of. This person that I’m married to, that I’m divorcing, I’ve kind of realized now that I don’t know him.”

Matt Lauer then asked Shellie why she didn’t press charges if she believed she’d been threatened with a gun. “In hindsight, I should have. I really regret that,” Shellie admitted. She pointed out that since she was on probation, she also would have gone to jail if she had pressed charges. A pretty good reason to hesitate.

Later, Lauer asked Shellie if George has changed dramatically since the trial; she replied, “Yes. He has. He kind of treated me like I was disposable. He left, and went on a victory tour without me.”

But the most gripping part of the interview was when Lauer brought up the night Trayvon Martin died, questioning whether Shellie’s view of the incident has changed, considering recent events.

Lauer: Has it changed your perspective at all on what he’s told you what happened the night that Trayvon Martin was shot and killed? Do you still believe the story that we have all heard from him?
Shellie: I’m conflicted on that. I believe the evidence, but this revelation in my life has really helped me to take the blinders off and start to see things differently.
Lauer: Let me make sure I understand. So you now doubt his innocence, at least the fact that he was acting on self-defense on the night that Trayvon Martin was killed?
Shellie: I think anyone would doubt that innocence because I don’t know the person that I have been married to.

Shellie Zimmerman did say that she believes the evidence, and added that she respects the jury’s decision. But since she has doubts about her husband, claims to have no idea what he’s capable of — meaning violence — and admits that she herself has credibility issues — this interview raises more questions instead of offering answers. (When asked if she knows where George Zimmerman is right now, Shellie said: “No.”)

[Today]

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