NBC Universal tries to have George Zimmerman's defamation suit thrown out

SANFORD, Fla., June 19 (UPI) -- A judge in Florida will listen to arguments today in George Zimmerman's defamation lawsuit against NBC Universal, to decide whether the suit should be thrown out.

Zimmerman sued NBC in 2012 over its editing of Zimmerman's 911 call the day he shot Trayvon Martin. When news first broke, NBC and a Florida affiliate ran a version of the 911 tape that did not include the dispatcher asking if Martin was "white, black or Hispanic," only playing Zimmerman's answer: "He looks black."

Zimmerman's attorneys accuse NBC of consciously editorializing "to juxtapose unrelated content to make it appear that Zimmerman was a racist and that he was racially profiling Trayvon Martin."

"NBC News saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings."

NBC formally apologized for the incident and fired three producers. The media giant's attorneys will argue that Zimmerman's suit should be thrown out because his claims fall short of Florida state retraction standards.

Judge Debra Nelson, the same judge who presided over Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial, will oversee today's hearing as well.