George Zimmerman’s defense team released a statement Friday shortly after President Obama’s remarks in a press conference.
“Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” Obama said, and urged the nation to have a conversation about race.
Zimmerman’s legal team promptly responded.
“To focus on this one line misses the nuances of the President’s message,” reads the statement which was posted at the defense team’s website GZLegalcase.com.
Earlier Friday, Robert Zimmerman Jr., George Zimmerman’s brother told The Daily Caller that Obama’s remarks reinforced the “mythology surrounding the case.”
The president did not acknowledge the evidence supporting Zimmerman’s claim that Martin attacked him. (RELATED: Obama urges ‘soul-searching’ after Zimmerman verdict)
“While we acknowledge and understand the racial context of this case,” the defense’s statement continues, “we challenge people to look closely and dispassionately at the facts.”
“We believe those who look at the facts of the case without prejudice will see that it is a clear case of self-defense, and we are certain that those who take a closer look at the kind of person George Zimmerman is,” reads the statement.
Zimmerman Jr. also recalled to TheDC earlier Friday that his brother has helped mentor two African-American children whose father is serving a life sentence in prison.
The defense team applauds Obama’s courage in discussing the Zimmerman verdict in the statement, but adds, “we would like to stress that the verdict was reached fairly and justly and that it reflects the letter of the law and represents the law’s proper application to the facts.”
“We hope that the President was not suggesting that this case fits a pattern of racial disparity, because we strongly contend that it does not,” they caution, citing the Department of Justice’s investigation against Zimmerman for possible hate crimes in the shooting death of Martin.
“Before you judge George Zimmerman or disparage the verdict of the citizen jury, understand the facts in full,” the statement reads. “Agree not to listen to just what meets your predisposition, but to accept what exists.”