The latest twist in the ongoing legal saga of George Zimmerman, via ABC News, which appears to have landed the scoop directly from Zimmerman’s legal team:
Zimmerman’s girlfriend who called Florida police [last month] to say he was breaking her stuff and was brandishing a weapon no longer wants to press charges against him and instead wants to get back together with him. Zimmerman … is asking to have conditions of his bail modified so he can resume contact with Samantha Scheibe.
According to court documents filed by Zimmerman’s attorney Jayne Weintraub, Scheibe, 27, gave a sworn statement in which she wrote, “I do not want George Zimmerman charged.” Scheibe’s new affidavit taken Dec. 6 stated, “When I was being questioned by police I felt very intimidated…I believe that the police misinterpreted me and that I may have misspoken about certain facts in my statement to police.”
Scheibe wrote that Zimmerman “never pointed a gun at or toward my face in a threatening manner” and that “I want to be with George.” Weintraub claims that Scheibe reached out to her and asked that the order barring contact between herself and Zimmerman be lifted.
Zimmerman is charged with third-degree felony aggravated assault, which carries with it up to 5 years in prison if convicted, and a pair of misdemeanors. According to police, Scheibe originally claimed that Zimmerman pointed a shotgun at her face during the domestic dispute, and also broke a table, pushed her out of the home and then barricaded the door with furniture. (Prosecutors also say that Scheibe later told them that he tried to choke her about a week before the incident.) Zimmerman has denied that’s how things played out, and used his own 911 call on the day of the dispute to tell a police dispatcher that his girlfriend went “crazy on [him].”
ABC News appears to be the only outlet to have seen the affidavit, so for now we have to go only on their report on it. But it’s worth pointing out that it appears as though Scheibe is suggesting only that Zimmerman didn’t point the gun at her “in a threatening manner,” not that he didn’t brandish a firearm at all. (Although, clearly, what constitutes a “threatening manner” is up for debate, particularly when we’re talking about a gun.)
Last month Judge Frederic Schott granted Zimmerman bail and ordered him to stay clear of Scheibe and her home, and not possess guns or ammunition while he awaits trial. His next hearing is currently set for January.
