Perhaps we should start calling George Zimmerman the Teflon Felon because every time he seems to be in serious trouble with the law, he manages to escape with his freedom. Zimmerman’s girlfriend Samantha Scheibe, who three weeks ago claimed that he threatened and pointed a shotgun at her, no longer wants to press charges, prompting prosecutors to announce yesterday that they would not file domestic violence charges against him.
Scheibe claims investigators misinterpreted her statements about the Nov. 18 incident at a home in Apopka, Seminole County, that she shared with Zimmerman.
“I want to be with George,” Scheibe, 27, said in the affidavit that she signed Friday.
Last month, Scheibe called 911 and said Zimmerman pointed a shotgun at her, smashed a glass-top coffee table, pushed her outside and locked himself inside after she told him to move out. When police searched the home, they found that Zimmerman had five guns and more than 100 rounds of ammunition when deputies arrested him.
Chief Deputy Dennis Lemma at a news conference said Zimmerman and Scheibe had lived together since August, one month after Zimmerman’s controversial acquittal in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, and around the time that Shellie Zimmerman filed for divorce from him.
Zimmerman’s former wife called him verbally abusive and she had called 911 to report that he had punched her father in the nose and threatened them with a gun.
Lemma said this most recent incident was prompted by a breakup between Zimmerman and Scheibe.
“I don’t know exactly what the argument was about, we believe it was some kind of separation from the relationship,” Lemma said. “She was concerned for her safety, certainly from having the weapon pointed at her. She’s shaken up over this incident, like any of us would be.”
Zimmerman was charged with aggravated assault, battery with domestic violence and criminal mischief and booked into Sanford’s John E Polk correctional facility. A judge freed Zimmerman on $9,000 bail the day after, but barred him from having guns or leaving the state.
Seminole County Judge Fred Schott had raised the standard $5,000 bail for the charges because of a new claim by Scheibe that Zimmerman had recently tried to choke her. The state’s attorney had requested $50,000.
But Scheibe’s feelings apparently have changed.
In her affidavit, she stated, “George never pointed a gun at or toward my face in a threatening manner.” She said she signed the declaration “without any intimidation, coercion or undue influences.”
Although prosecutors could have proceeded with the case despite Scheibe’s change of heart, State Attorney Phil Archer said “there is no reasonable likelihood of successful prosecution” without her cooperation or corroborating witnesses and evidence.
