A judge on Monday ruled in favor of NBC, rejecting a libel lawsuit brought by George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of killing Trayvon Martin.
Judge Debra Nelson, in her ruling said, NBC did not maliciously seek to portray Zimmerman as a racist when it aired an edited version of a phone call he made to police before he shot dead Martin, an unarmed black teenager.
Zimmerman has no right to money from NBC, Judge Nelson said, according to reports.
“Because Zimmerman is unable to demonstrate that the editing choices at issue resulted in a materially false change in the meaning of what he actually said, he cannot pursue his defamation claims,” Nelson, who also presided over Zimmerman’s murder trial last year, wrote in her summary judgment.
A statement released by the network said: “NBC News is gratified by the court’s dismissal of this lawsuit, which we have always believed to be without merit.”
Zimmerman, who claimed he shot Martin in self-defense, in February 2012, was acquitted last year.
