Zimmerman Reportedly Wants to Attend Law School Now That He's Free

One might assume that a courtroom is the last place George Zimmerman would like to call home since a jury found him not guilty Saturday in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.

But close friends and associates say that the next stop for Zimmerman, 29, may be law school, Reuters reported.

(Credit: Getty Images)

His objective? To help people wrongly accused of crimes.

"He wanted to be a cop for awhile, but he's talked about going to law school," Zimmerman defense attorney Mark O'Mara told Reuters.

Mark O'Mara (Credit: AP)

"He has a real interest in the law and ... prosecuting appropriately - not like what he got - is something he's very interested in. I will not be surprised if he ends up in criminal law," O'Mara added. "His dad was a judge, and he wants to be a prosecutor or a lawyer."

Defense witness John Donnelly and his wife Leanne Benjamin got to know Zimmerman in 2004 when he and a black friend opened up an insurance office in a Florida building where Benjamin worked. They grew close and the couple spent time with Zimmerman during the trial.

Over dinner with him recently, Reuters noted, Benjamin said Zimmerman told the couple that he'd like to go to law school. "I'd like to help other people like me," she quoted him as telling them.

More from Reuters:

Donnelly told Reuters that Zimmerman was hurt very deeply by prosecutors' portrayals of him as a racist vigilante who targeted and pursued Martin simply because he was black.

"The person they are talking about is somebody completely different," Donnelly quoted Zimmerman as telling him recently. "Sometimes I have to go look at a mirror. They are talking about a totally different human being. They are talking about a racist. I'm not a racist."

He said Zimmerman was anything but.

"He's been mentoring young black kids for years, he launched a campaign to help a homeless black man who was beaten up by a white kid, and he still just can't believe all the things that have been said about him in the media."

Other friends of Zimmerman who spoke exclusively to Reuters remain angry at what he has endured since the shooting.

"I knew the man was innocent the whole time,'' said Jorge Rodriguez. "He called me yesterday to thank me ... for believing in him. He was just so relieved."

Rodriguez is deeply frustrated by civil rights activists like Al Sharpton, who he feels pressured prosecutors into charging Zimmerman with a crime he didn't commit.

"Everybody asked for justice, and they got it," Rodriguez said. "Everybody asked for George to be arrested, and they got it. Everybody asked for George to be tried, and they got it. Everybody asked for a fair trial, and they got it."

He dismissed criticism of the prosecution, the six female jurors and calls by civil rights groups for a federal civil rights investigation. The Martin family is also considering a wrongful death civil suit.

"Now can't we leave George Zimmerman alone?" Rodriguez said. "It was nothing about racism. It was about the community being robbed and broken into, and one man stood up. The state should be giving this man an award, and instead they took him to trial."

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