[running_dog_lackey]

Is Zimmerman a public figure? Can he sue people (Sharpton) for stating that he is a racist murderer? His future has been ruined as far as employment goes (who’d want the risk?)

[HollyB]

Charges need to be brought on the pink panthers for their dead or alive poster. (yes, I did that on purpose)

[Cboldt]

-- Is Zimmerman a public figure? Can he sue people (Sharpton) for stating that he is a racist murderer? --

He's not a public figure. He's got tenable defamation suits coming out of his ears by now, especially against the press.

[Cyber Liberty]

Is Zimmerman a public figure? Can he sue people (Sharpton) for stating that he is a racist murderer?

He sure can. In fact, because he's not a public figure, he is spared the necessity of proving malicious intent, which is the high legal bar set for most libel cases. When this is over, he can go to town on all of them, whoever has the deepest pockets.

I hope he does better than Richard Jewell, who got bupkis after being falsely convicted in the press of being the Olympic bomber in Atlanta.

You mention Sharpton. I don't think he ever paid off the settlement to the NYPD cops he libeled in the Brawley case.

[Haiku Guy]

Can he sue people (Sharpton) for stating that he is a racist murderer?

Steven Pagones sued Sharpton over the Tawana Brawley accusation, won a judgement, and never saw a dime.