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Once George Zimmerman's vocal defender, Frank Taaffe said Wednesday that he wanted to "make amends" with the family of Trayvon Martin by testifying for a federal grand jury convened in downtown Orlando.

The grand jury is believed to be hearing testimony in the civil rights probe into 17-year-old Trayvon's shooting in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot the teen in self-defense. He was found not guilty of second-degree murder at trial last year.

Taaffe, a former Zimmerman neighbor, was subpoenaed by a U.S. Department of Justice attorney to testify Wednesday.

Before entering the courthouse, Taaffe spoke to reporters, offering a complete about-face from his original stance on the case. Asked why his views had changed, Taaffe's reply was blunt: "Death."

Taaffe explained both of his sons died recently, leading him to reflect on the loss felt by Trayvon's parents.

"This is a young man who didn't deserve to die," Taaffe said.

Zimmerman was driving through his neighborhood when he saw Trayvon walking through the rain Feb. 26, 2012, and called police to report the teen as suspicious.

Zimmerman left his vehicle. During a confrontation that left Zimmerman bloodied, he fatally shot the teen.

Trayvon's killing became a cause clbre after Zimmerman initially wasn't arrested, sparking protests and a national debate about self-defense laws. Many believed that Trayvon was racially profiled by Zimmerman.

Taaffe said he now counts among them.

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Former Zimmerman supporter appears for grand jury testimony

ORLANDO, Fla.

One of George Zimmerman's most outspoken supporters in the days surrounding his murder trial has changed course, testifying Wednesday in front of a grand jury that Zimmerman could have called him and made racially charged comments.

In 2012, shortly after Zimmerman claimed he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in self-defense in his Sanford gated community, friend Frank Taaffe said, "I'm going to go on camera and say George is not a racist."

On Wednesday, Taffe, said he's had a change of heart, saying he testified against Zimmerman in front of the grand jury that will decide whether Zimmerman will face federal charges for violating Martin's civil rights.

File Video: Neighbor says George Zimmerman 'is not a racist'

Raw Video: Zimmerman supporter changes course, testifies

Evidence Photos: Bloodied George Zimmerman, gun used in shooting

Taaffe said his flip came after he got a call from an unknown number two years ago by a man claiming to be Zimmerman. He said the man made a racist comment about Martin, which he first thought was a prank call at the time, but now he's not so sure.

Taaffe said he had already publicly defended Zimmerman on national television when the call came. He said he faced death threats, but claimed Wednesday that his personal losses have led him to identify more with the Martins.

Taaffe now views the mystery call differently, he said.

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Man known for defending George Zimmerman has change of heart, testifies for grand jury

County commissioners acknowledged Monday that Judge George Zimmerman, justice of the peace for Precinct 4, will be retiring effective at the end of the month.

Zimmerman, 78, who did not run for re-election, is retiring for health reasons. He served for 18 years.

I have to start thinking more about me and my health, instead of the job, Zimmerman said. Ive been scheduling doctors appointments around my on-call schedule and its getting to where I cant do that anymore.

Zimmermans successor will be John Wesley Barton, who won the Republican primary in March. He garnered 61 percent of the vote against two other opponents. Commissioners plan to appoint Barton to the judges post the day after Zimmermans retirement goes into effect. He would have assumed the position in January.

Barton previously worked in the Texas Department of Public Safety.

I think hes a man of high integrity and a good Christian, Zimmerman said of Barton.

County Judge Mike Bradford said Zimmerman, or Judge Z, has fulfilled his duties with no issues from the Commissioners Courts end.

He has been a loyal public servant from the first day he arrived, Zimmerman said. We wish him nothing but the best what whatever life he chooses to pursue now.

Zimmerman offered advice to the incoming judge.

If it goes like it did the last 18 years, hes going to have double the work in 18 years than he does now, Zimmerman said.

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Commissioners set date for Justice of the Peace judge retirement

A jurys failure to convict George Zimmerman sparked a wave of black youth activism not unlike the awakening after the beating of Rodney King. What now? Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Black lives matter? Its tough to keep saying something like that to shout it in anything but protest with this impending reality: At some point in the next few days, its likely that Darren Wilson will not be indicted, by the US justice department or the state of Missouri, for the extrajudicial killing of Michael Brown an 18-year-old unarmed black man in Ferguson, in broad daylight, three long months ago.

It is at once horrific and predictable that a law enforcement officer may never have to answer for his crimes in criminal court, that his life will remained buttressed by the power of a blue wall as more black people are shot dead in America simply for existing, and by secret online donations from supporters with names like Jim Crow who applaud him for taking out the trash, like George Zimmerman and so many others before him.

But to understand a non-indictment in Ferguson as simply par for the course in the United States case is not to say that Browns life is unworthy of defending, nor that his death and its international aftermath are unworthy of redress. This reality check simply locates another officer in the context of the white supremacist law-enforcement apparatus that defends him in lieu of protecting its (black) citizens, that operates with impunity. And for the rest of us to view black life as worthy of defending, to unequivocally repeat that black lives matter in a world that insists otherwise, is a radical act if a tiresome one.

The hard truth about no justice for Mike Brown is that we must reassess our standards for justice to create a kind of peace for his family, for Ferguson, and for those of whose anger and grief emerge anew each time a black life is taken without consequence.

With the Missouri grand jury expected to announce its decision as early as mid-November, Ferguson community members are preparing a response and asking that they be given 48 hours notice to do so. The Dont Shoot Coalition has issued a set of 19 demands and they are, like the desire for Wilson to be indicted for a crime no one denies he committed, very modest. Especially the first demand:

The first priority be the preservation of human life.

It is a simple request, perhaps the simplest we know as humans the desire to exist freely without imminent, disproportionate threat to our lives. And yet, the weeks since Browns death have seen continued violence from the state, including the fatal, officer-involved shootings of two other young black men in nearby St Louis, Vonderrit Myers and Kajieme Powell.

The US justice system has failed to provide solutions to the problems it creates. It cannot reform a policing apparatus first conceived as a runaway slave patrol with cursory racial sensitivity training. And while outgoing US attorney general Eric Holder stressed the need for wholesale change in the Ferguson police department, his Department of Justice is limited by bureaucracy and allegiance to its own conventions. President Obamas nomination of two-time US attorney Loretta Lynch to succeed Holder may offer renewed momentum, but renewed from what? From begging for some semblance of justice? From having to stage the most influential protest on race in a generation only to see absolutely zero decrease in the level of violence faced by the black community?

That we must beg for the government to take up the mantle for victims in cases where black folks blood has been unceremoniously spilled is not without precedent: Zimmerman was not arrested for more than six weeks following the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin. The jurys failure to convict Zimmerman on murder charges sparked a wave of black youth activism that channels righteous anger and inexplicable pain into community-driven advocacy initiatives not wholly unlike the collective awakening that emerged after the 1992 beating of Rodney King.

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Beyond 'Hands Up, Don't Shoot': what if there's no indictment in Ferguson?

MSNBC live interview, Trayvon Martin George Zimmerman trial

By: NCAVF

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MSNBC live interview, Trayvon Martin George Zimmerman trial - Video