SANFORD, Fla. — Prosecutors have filed paperwork revealing that murder defendant George Zimmerman applied to become a police officer in a county near Washington, D.C., but was turned down.
His application and rejection letter are among the latest pieces of evidence the state has notified defense attorneys they may use at Zimmerman’s trial, which begins Monday.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder. He’s the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, after calling police and describing the teenager as suspicious.
Zimmerman says he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors say he profiled the teenager, assumed Martin was about to commit a crime, followed and killed him.
The new list of evidence, filed Monday, says Zimmerman applied to become an officer in Prince William County, Md., but that appears to be an error. There is no Prince William County in Maryland, however, there is one in Virginia, and it’s the site of Zimmerman’s hometown: Manassas.
The paperwork does not spell out when Zimmerman applied for the job, but it is not the first indication that he had an interest in police work.
He was a student at Seminole State College, about to complete a two-year degree in criminal justice, at the time of the shooting.
He also took part in a citizens’ academy, a program sponsored b y the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office that allows people to become more familiar with police work.
On his 2008 application to join that program, he wrote, “I hold law enforcement officers in the highest regard as I hope to one day become one.”
The new evidence list includes information that Zimmerman trained at a Longwood, Fla., gym that specializes in boxing and kickboxing.
A webpage for the business, Kokopelli’s Gym, describes it as “the most complete fight gym in the world.”
Also Tuesday, authorities released information showing that they have set aside more space – including a site near last year’s huge Trayvon Martin rally in downtown Sanford – as a protest or assembly area during Zimmerman’s trial.
That area now includes two strips of lawn in front of the Seminole County criminal courthouse, where Zimmerman will stand trial; an area about 200 feet away at the nearby county juvenile courthouse and an area on Park Avenue in downtown Sanford that surrounds the county’s civil courthouse.
That last location is near Fort Mellon Park, where an estimated 8,000 people gathered March 26, 2012, at a rally calling for Zimmerman’s arrest.
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