News

Actions

Florida prosecutors mistakenly release confidential Zimmerman case documents

Posted at 9:00 PM, Aug 09, 2012
and last updated 2012-08-09 18:55:55-04

(CNN) — A grainy black and white photo of Trayvon Martin’s body and school records for George Zimmerman were among court documents that prosecutors in the controversial case said they mistakenly released Thursday.

Special Prosecutor Angela Corey’s office later issued a statement asking reporters to “please disregard and do not use the information contained in the initial e-mail. It was inadvertently attached.”

The photo and records were among 76 documents released by Corey’s office Thursday.

The state attorney’s office later sent reporters a redacted version of the court documents, which did not include the Martin photo or the Zimmerman school records.

In June, Circuit Judge Kenneth R. Lester Jr. ruled that photographs of Martin’s body after the February 26 shooting would not be released to the public.

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed while walking through Zimmerman’s Sanford, Florida, neighborhood in February. Zimmerman says he shot Martin in self-defense during a struggle, but prosecutors say he racially profiled the youth and ignored a 911 dispatcher’s advice not to follow him.

In his six-page order sealing some court documents in June, Lester noted the media scrutiny of the case.

“News stories have been routinely disseminated presenting opinion and rumors as fact. Any person who has logged onto a news website in the last three months has at the least seen a headline relating to the case,” he wrote. “As noted, common sense tells this court that the full disclosure of information, as sought by the media interveners, will irreparably harm the … ability to receive a fair trial.”