Seminole clerk: I'm gonna unseal settlement with Trayvon Martin's parents

That secret homeowners association settlement with Trayvon Martin's family may not remain secret much longer.

Seminole County Clerk of Courts Maryanne Morse has written a letter to Trayvon's family attorney, Benjamin Crump, telling him that she doesn't think it meets the standard of a confidential filing so she intends to make it public in 10 days.

Even so, the total dollar figure paid out by the association will likely remain a secret. That's because Crump edited it out before he put the 12-page document in the court file Thursday.



Part of the 12-page settlement popped into public view for a few minutes Friday. The day before, Crump had made it part of the official court record in the second-degree murder case against former Neighborhood Watch volunteer George Zimmerman. Crump had instructed the clerk's office to seal the settlement, but for a few minutes Friday morning, the first five pages were available for public review. The clerk's office then blacked out all but the first page, which is a cover sheet filed by Crump.

After further consideration, however, Morse decided that none of it should be kept secret, so she wrote Crump, telling him she would unseal it in 10 days.

Why Crump had it placed in the file in the first place remains a mystery. He did not return phone calls from the Orlando Sentinel. But his clients, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, were deposed last month by Zimmerman's attorneys and were likely asked about the settlement.

In an interview last month, when asked if the settlement was a specific figure between $1 million and $2 million, Crump would not say.

"I have no comment on the subject," he said. "I know you didn't get that from me."

Trayvon's parents did not sue the homeowner's association. They settled before their wrongful death claim reached that point.

The association was a target because Zimmerman had organized a Neighborhood Watch group on its behalf, saying there had been a series of break-ins in his Sanford townhome community.

The evening that he shot Trayvon, Zimmerman had called Sanford police using a non-emergency phone number that the agency had advised him, as a Neighborhood Watch volunteer, to use.

Zimmerman told a dispatcher that evening that he was watching a suspicious person and asked police to respond.

A few minutes later, Zimmerman shot Trayvon, an unarmed 17-year-old. Zimmerman told police that he acted in self-defense after the teenager knocked him to the ground, breaking his nose, then climbed on top and repeatedly banged his head on a sidewalk.

rstutzman@tribune.com or 407-650-6394.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...ent-not-confidential-20130408,0,5675871.story



Ok, I can't wait till we get to see this. It kinda sucks we won't get to see the dollar amount. And CRUMP asked for it to be sealed, lol.

 

How much did C-Rump make?

 

At least a third, but who knows?

 

I found one source that said there wasn't a payout

Seems odd they would print that.

http://www.cfnews13.com/content/new...icles/cfn/2013/4/5/trayvon_martin_s_par.html:

 

So what does that mean? This is just such a joke all the way around.

 

Don't know how true this is, but I'd heard that HOA had offered the Martins a million dollar settlement, but the pair turned it down the million.......

 

Probably to avoid prosecution in the long run. I think they have gotten enough perks since their son attacked someone and lost his fight.

 

As far as what happened that night, I don't know - wasn't there, but what gets me is the parents won't put their son to rest and move on w/their lives like millions of other parents have had to do.....it's become pretty obvious that there's no publicity and profit in doing that.....

They have another son who's still alive and breathing. Wonder how he's doing living in the shadow of his brother for over a yr now......

 

Odd.

It seems like I read about LOTS of parents who are working and fighting to get the killers of their children death penalty instead of life in prison, o to block the killer's parole after 40 years in jail.

The Martins have fought to just get the guy who shot their unarmed son dead even arrested, and to have a day in court after the assailant instigated involvement with their son on his way home from the store on a public street.

Its not too much to ask.

 

Depends... By the way, Trayvon says "hi".

 

There is no question in the minds of rational people that Z caused Martin's death by being stupid.

There is no question that the HOA screwed up when they let Z think he mattered more than the average person.

Now Z is supposed to be able to just say "(*)(*)(*)(*) happens" and walk away? Are you people serious? It is absurd to think that pubic safety is served by allowing useless scum like Z to throw their weight around.

Does a county clerk really have the authority to unilaterally decide what settlements should remain confidential?

 

Actually, rational people don't exactly expect to get assaulted in their own neighborhood for asking who someone is. hey its the new America. Didn't a couple of teens beat up another guy for talking to them? Didn't kill them, but hey, how dare anyone ask a kid a question in todays society...bound to get you killed.

 

Repeating it over and over doesn't make it any more true the next time lol.

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This times a million . Rational people don't attack others for asking a question .

 

Rational people know not to act like boy-bumpers.

 

A questionable looking teen bumped into my stroller at the mall the other day and I held my tongue. Normally I would say "Hey, Excuse ME!!" when someone doesn't say sorry and kept walking. But my Spidey sense said its just not worth it, because who knows what the heck the kids would do. Toss the stroller over? Say, whatcha gonna do about it? I don't know. I don't want to know and that's a BIG problem. And it was strictly because of how the kids looked and didn't even acknowledge what they did.

 

I'm going to say they got $100k or less just enough to keep Crump on the job. If they waited till Zimmerman's acquitted, they'd get NOTHING.

 

it is amazing how disrespectful many teens are these days and down right scary how many of them commit brutal crimes.

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it is amazing how disrespectful many teens are these days and down right scary how many of them commit brutal crimes.

 

Yeah that is why crime rates remain near historic lows.

 

....and why you provide no link....

 

Common knowledge requires no link but here you go: http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvcs9310.pdf

oh and how did you become a debating champion?

 

Nope. . .both parties asked that it be sealed. . .and Crump agreed as long as the Martin family retains the right to sue Zimmerman in civil court!

Isn't it telling that, if O'Mara had taken the opportunity to "argue" the case in the SYG immunity hearing, and he had won, there would have been FULL immunity, and Zimmerman could NEVER had been sued?

So. . .why did O'Mara decide to forgoe that opportunity?

Any idea???

 

A gang kid once jumped on and over the hood of my car because it was blocking the sidewalk and then he kept running. He put a dent in my car and I had to pay the $500 deductible. If I had a gun, I would seriously be tempted to shoot him in the back, but that would not be a valid shoot and I'd be arrested. But I sure wanted to do it.

And I think Trayvon was that kind of kid. Who knows how many rotten thing he did to people before he picked on the wrong guy, and got himself killed.

 

oh great, finally i get a link from someone. now show a correlation between my comment and the link you provided otherwise you are making a strawman argument....that is how it is done.....thanks for playing but you lose..

 

true and spot on about trayvon, he was a violent punk....

 

The thing is, and everyone knows this, Trayvon's reaction to George approaching him was to beat the living crap out of him. That makes it a clear case of self defense.