Police say iPad may prove key in Zimmerman marital altercation case

Zimmerman's wife calls 911 on him

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "Unfortunately, the iPad is in several pieces," police spokesman says
• Shellie Zimmerman placed 911 call and said she and her father were threatened
• No gun was found in Monday's alleged incident

(CNN) -- An iPad used to shoot video of a confrontation that allegedly erupted Monday between George Zimmerman and his estranged wife, Shellie, and her father might prove key in determining whether charges will be filed, police said Tuesday in Lake Mary, Florida.

"Unfortunately, the iPad is in several pieces," police spokesman Zach Hudson told reporters about the device, which he said George Zimmerman had damaged.

The incident comes two months after Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, was acquitted of second-degree murder in the shooting death in nearby Sanford of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old unarmed youth.

Police have sent the pieces of the iPad for analysis, Hudson said. "We want to get all the information, the footage, off it."

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It was not clear who, if anyone, would be charged in the case, he said. "It depends on what the iPad has on it," he said. "What that footage looks like."

No charges were filed after the incident on Monday afternoon, when police answered a 911 call from Shellie Zimmerman during which she said her husband had threatened her and her father with a gun.

HLNTV.com: New details of Shellie Zimmerman's 911 call

"There was no gun found," Hudson said. "There was no weapon, nor was there any weapon involved. Nobody ever saw a gun. A gun is definitely not part of any evidence in this particular case."

Shellie Zimmerman's reference to a gun during her call to 911 is not likely to result in any charges, he said.

"Any time you have a divorce, emotions are going to run high," Hudson added. "In this case, obviously, that was happening and, unfortunately, you had an incident. We need to find out and determine if a crime was committed during that incident."

No one was injured at the house, he said. "They put hands on each other. I don't know if that was fists or pushing."

Shellie Zimmerman and her father, David Bryant Dean, had gone to the house she had shared with George Zimmerman to pick up some of her belongings.

The Zimmermans had texted Monday morning, and she told him she was going go the house, according to a person with whom the family shared the texts.

George Zimmerman and a friend also went to the house, where he got into a heated discussion with Dean, Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, told CNN on Monday. Police said it was then that Zimmerman broke the iPad.

"There was heightened emotion, and a disagreement took place," O'Mara said Monday. He added that Shellie Zimmerman no longer lives at the house, which is owned by her father.

O'Mara has since announced that he will no longer represent Zimmerman.

Shellie Zimmerman's divorce filing last week in Seminole County came after she pleaded guilty to perjury on August 28 for lying about the couple's finances during a bond hearing in April 2012. She had said she and her husband were broke, when they had collected about $135,000 in donations from supporters.

Since his acquittal on July 13, George Zimmerman has returned several times to the headlines. In late July, he helped a family escape from an overturned SUV. And he has been pulled over in traffic twice. The first time, he was given a verbal warning for a traffic violation in Texas and reportedly told officers he had a firearm in his glove compartment. The second time was in Florida last week, when he was issued a $256 ticket for speeding.

Under Florida law, it is up to police to decide whether to press charges for domestic battery.

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CNN exclusive: George W. Bush on AIDS, Mandela, Snowden and his legacy

George W. Bush builds on legacy in Africa

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The former president tells CNN that Snowden has hurt U.S. security
• He refrains from criticizing Obama, who he says has a "hard job"
• Nelson Mandela's legacy "will last for a long time," Bush says
• He says he bears no grudge against Mandela for Iraq criticism

(CNN) -- Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, are in Africa this week, where they renovated a cancer screening clinic in Zambia and commemorated the victims of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing in Tanzania.

The clinic, which is designed help women fight cervical cancer, builds on the former president's work fighting AIDS on the continent. While he was in office, Bush set up a plan that dramatically reduced the number of AIDS deaths in Africa.

"I'm really proud of the American people for their generosity," he told CNN in an exclusive interview. "I wish Americans knew how many lives were saved. Someday, they will."

Bush also told CNN why he respects Nelson Mandela, what he thinks about Edward Snowden and President Barack Obama, and how he's not going to be around when his legacy is finally decided.

Photos: Bushes renovate Zambian clinic

• On Snowden: "I think he damaged the security of the country."

• On Mandela: "His legacy will last for a long time."

• On Obama: "It's a hard job. He's got plenty on his agenda."

Bush talked about Snowden, the computer contractor who leaked details about secret U.S. surveillance programs, to CNN's Robyn Curnow in Zambia on Sunday.

He said he believes the Obama administration "will deal" with the fallout from the controversy unleashed by Snowden, who is now thought to be holed up in the transit area of a Moscow airport after fleeing there from Hong Kong.

Snowden's disclosures about the programs carried out by the National Security Agency have shaken the U.S. intelligence community and put the Obama administration on the defensive over accusations of government overreach into citizens' privacy.

But Bush refrained from criticizing the current president.

"I don't think it does any good," he said. "It's a hard job. He's got plenty on his agenda. It's difficult. A former president doesn't need to make it any harder. Other presidents have taken different decisions; that's mine."

The White House has defended the surveillance programs as necessary tools to defuse terrorist threats. Obama has said he welcomes a debate over how to strike a balance between security and privacy.

"I think there needs to be a balance, and as the president explained, there is a proper balance," Bush said.

I made decisions that were the right decisions. History will ultimately judge.
George W. Bush

Asked about an NSA program that tracks people's Internet activity, Bush said, "I put that program in place to protect the country. One of the certainties was that civil liberties were guaranteed."

Snowden has said he leaked information to journalists about the surveillance programs in the hope of ending what he called an excessively intrusive system.

The Bushes were at a renovated health clinic in Livingstone, Zambia, scheduled to open Monday as a cervical cancer screening and treatment center. They hope this will save the lives of thousands of women.

In his comments, George Bush touched on the subject of Mandela, who is on life support in a South African hospital.

 

"Sometimes, there are leaders who come and go. His legacy will last for a long time," he said of the ailing anti-apartheid icon.

Reminded by Curnow that Mandela had criticized him publicly about the war in Iraq, Bush said he didn't bear a grudge.

"He wasn't the only guy," he said. "It's OK. I made decisions that were the right decisions. History will ultimately judge. I never held someone's opinion against him; I didn't look at him differently because he didn't agree with me on an issue."

Bush also initially said he wasn't bothered about his ratings in opinion polls, even if some of them now put him at a similar level to Obama.

"The only time I really cared was on Election Day," he said.

Then, drawing laughter from his wife, he checked himself and said, "You know, I guess it's nice. I mean, let me rephrase that: Thank you for bringing it up."

In any case, the former president said he doesn't expect a fair assessment of his legacy in his lifetime.

"I won't be around, because it will take a while for the objective historians to show up," he said. "So I'm pretty comfortable with it, I did what I did; I know the spirit in which I did it."

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