George Zimmerman’s Angie painting copied AP photo

The Associated Press news agency is demanding George Zimmerman to halt the sale of a painting it says he copied from one of its photos.

George Zimmerman was acquitted of murdering unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.

He is seeking buyers for his portrait of Florida prosecutor Angela Corey that closely resembles a photograph shot by the Associated Press.

George Zimmerman sold a painting on eBay in December for $100,099.

In 2013, a jury found George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, 17, in self-defense.

The painting, advertised on Twitter by George Zimmerman’s brother Robert, depicts Florida prosecutor Angela Corey holding her fingers together, with an apparently fictitious quote reading: “I have this much respect for the American judicial system.”

Robert Zimmerman has said he and his brother were in negotiations with potential buyers.

On Friday, an Associated Press spokesman said George Zimmerman “clearly directly copied an AP photo” taken during the press conference in April 2012 in which Angela Corey announced Zimmerman would face murder charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

The news agency has sent a letter to George Zimmerman’s former lawyer, Jayne Weintraub, calling for the sale of the painting to be halted, or for damages to be paid in the event of a sale.

In November, George Zimmerman was arrested after reportedly pointing a shotgun at his girlfriend. Prosecutors later declined to file domestic violence charges against him in the incident after the girlfriend refused to co-operate.

He was also briefly detained following a domestic disturbance at the home of his estranged wife, Shellie, in September.

George Zimmerman’s acquittal on a charge of second-degree murder over the February 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin also sparked a fierce debate about racial profiling and gun culture in the US.

He said the teenager, who was unarmed and walking at night toward his father’s house, attacked him when he confronted him about his presence in the neighborhood.

George Zimmerman said he shot Trayvon Martin in the chest in self-defense.