Tag: George Zimmerman (page 9)

George Zimmerman today announced a change in his legal defense fund. The fund will be transferred to an independent manager of George's choosing and be hosted on a website that is not affiliated with his legal team. The new website is up and running here. The site says the monies will go (in order) to: George's living expenses, costs of litigation, and if any remains, to legal fees. Neither Mark O'Mara or Don West have been paid any fees to date.

The announcement is not on the George Zimmerman legal case website maintained by Mark O'Mara. He merely tweeted a link to it.

The new site says the change is at George's request and more active solicitation of funds is likely. My translation: O'Mara was fine with accepting donations, but as a lawyer, actively soliciting funds can be dicey. By removing the fund from his lawyer's trust account and control, George can avoid many of the restrictions contained in the rules of professional responsibility applicable to lawyers, particularly as to what can be said about his case publicly. [More...]

Jose Baez is angry over the state prosecutor's statement during last week's arguments on the state's second motion for a gag order that he believed Casey Anthony's defense attorney was reprimanded for inappropriate media comments. Never happened, according to this letter from Baez, posted today on the Court's Zimmerman case website.

It has come to my attention that some misrepresentations were made in your court on Friday, October 26,2012. As an officer of the court I feel obligated to bring them to your attention immediately. During oral arguments in the case of State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman, Assistant State attorney Bernie de la Rionda stated that he believed that I had been held in contempt by Judge Perry in the State of Florida vs. Casey Anthony, presumably for violating some rule or order relating to violating the rules of professional conduct involving statements to the media.

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Judge Debra Nelson has rejected the state's second request for a gag order in the George Zimmerman case. The two page order is here.

By now, Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump should have disclosed to the defense everyone who was present on March 19 when he recorded a telephone interview with Witness 8, referred to as "Dee Dee." ABC News reporter Matt Gutman has previously said he was there, as were the parents of Trayvon Martin, whom he described as "ashen-faced" while listening to the call. At the hearing on Friday, October 19, the Judge told Crump to disclose the names to Zimmerman's defense team within 10 days. Background here. [More...]

The State's Attorney's Office has filed this Memorandum in support of its second motion for a gag order on attorneys in the George Zimmerman case. The pleading is not on the court's website yet, but Jeff Wiener of the Orlando Sentinel has posted it. He describes it here. The hearing on the motion is today at 1:30 p.m. Fox 35 Orlando will be live-streaming it.

It's not the defense that needs gagging. While I don't think Judge Nelson will issue a gag order, as opposed to just reminding all the lawyers they are subject to disciplinary rules for improper prejudicial extra-judicial comments, it's important to note that that the State asks in its Memorandum, as it did in its Second Motion for Gag Order (and its first motion in April) that the court restrict not just prosecutors, O'Mara and defense lawyers, but all lawyers "involved" with the prosecution or defense. [More...]

The full version of the October 19 hearing in the George Zimmerman case is now available without commentary on You Tube (Parts 1 and Part 2.)

Of particular interest to me are the issues surrounding Witness 8, aka "Dee Dee", Trayvon Martin's phone friend who reportedly was speaking with Travyon in the minutes leading up to the shooting. The media has referred to her as "Dee Dee", but her true identity is protected by court order (so please don't speculate on it here, that's not the point of this post.)

When Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump held a press conference in Ft. Lauderdale on March 20, to introduce the nation to the existence of this witness, he played a tape recording of a telephone interview he conducted with her the day before. He said the interview shows George Zimmerman's version of the events leading up to the shooting are not believable. The transcript of his press conference is here. Crump announced he would send the recording to the Justice Department. Video is here (part 1) and here (part 2.) [More...]

The new judge in the George Zimmerman case agreed to issue defense subpoenas for Trayvon Martin's school records and social media account records, as well as the social media accounts of witness #8 "Dee Dee", the phone friend of Trayvon, who says she was on the phone with him just before the shooting. You can watch the Judge explain her ruling here.

As I wrote here and here, I think this is the correct ruling. A defendant raising self-defense may introduce evidence regarding a victim's reputation for a particular character trait like violence to show that the defendant was not the initial aggressor, even if the defendant did not previously know about the victim's reputation. Here's the Munoz case the Judge cites from, which quotes the Dwyer case.

The school records will not be released publicly. The judge also granted the state's request for Zimmerman's medical records, but like the school records, they will not be released publicly. [More]

The state moved for a gag order against the defense yesterday. Here is the motion, which will be heard next week. I think the motion, which is directed at Zimmerman's lawyers, picked the wrong target. The target should be the lawyers for the family of Trayvon Martin. They are the ones who comment on the evidence, opine on guilt, and inflame passions likely to prejudice the potential jury pool.

The defense has posted pleadings it has filed in court. That's allowed, and the motion doesn't seek to prevent it. The defense is also allowed to inform the public about the course of proceedings. [More...]

There's a lot of buzz yesterday about the new judge in the George Zimmerman case scheduling his trial in June. I doubt it will happen that fast. Even in non-high profile cases, delays to two to three years are not uncommon.

James Wonder was charged in 2008 with shooting a polygrapher for the U.S. Border Patrol during a road rage incident. Weeks after the shooting, prosecutors asked the grand jury to indict on first degree murder. The grand jury returned an indictment on manslaughter. His stand your ground hearing was just scheduled a few weeks ago for the end of October. The hearing is expected to take 8 to 10 days with 35 to 40 witnesses being called. (One of the issues recently decided: The state objected to the defense introducing Wonder's 3 hour post-arrest interview at the stand your ground hearing.)

Trevor Dooley, a retired bus driver, shot and killed a younger man who was playing basketball in 2010. His stand your ground hearing was in May, 2012. He lost, and trial was set for September. But Dooley is appealing the denial of his stand your ground motion, so the trial date was vacated. [More...]

In the George Zimmerman case, Mark O'Mara has filed two fairly explosive motions. You can read them here and here.

In addition to withholding the report on the analysis of the phone found at the scene alleged to have been Trayvon's, it turns out the records given to the defense by the investigator who downloaded the information from the phone's sim card don't match those turned over by the State.

Also check out Officer Joseph Santiago's chronology of events concerning the phone.

There's lots more in these motions I don't have time to get into now like issues regarding the Dee Dee (witness 8) interview. O'Mara says he will depose the Martin family lawyers and public relations adviser. Diwataman has a summary of the motions.

If the state has been playing fast and loose with its discovery obligations as alleged by O'Mara, and it seems he has the documentation to back it up, the state has some serious explaining to do.

To date, the public has only seen George Zimmerman's legal team playing defense - fighting for bond and against the negative perceptions of their client created by the selective discovery released and the Martin family and their media team of lawyers and consultants.

Yesterday, that began to change. Mark O'Mara filed a notice of hearing for subpoenas he wants issued for Trayvon Martin and his phone friend "DeeDee"'s cell phone accounts for the period of 1/1/12 to 6/1/12, and for their Facebook and Twitter accounts,.

In another motion, Mark O'Mara says he wants the original recordings of Witness 9, George's cousin, brought to court because despite repeated requests, the defense may not have received accurate and audible copies and they want to make sure what was submitted to the court at the bond hearing is the same as what they received. [More...]

The States Attorney's office in Pinellas County, FL today announced an off-duty security guard who followed someone he believed was driving erratically which led to a confrontation and the guard fatally shooting the man he followed will not face charges because the shooting was justified under the state's stand your ground law.

The shooting occurred a week after Trayvon Martin was shot in a different county. The case generated a lot of local attention with calls for an arrest but no national attention. Race was not an issue, as both the shooter and victim were white. The victim's family says this was not a case of Stand Your Ground. [More...]

The state released some of its 6th and 7th round of discovery in the George Zimmerman case to the media today. The material was released about a month ago to the defense. Not everything released to the defense is included.

Of interest to those following the timeline of events the night of the shooting is the release of the event reports with times of the 911 calls. The primary one is here.

The conclusions in the DNA reports of the gun, holster, trigger and slide are pretty much a retread of previously released reports. Contrary to what some news outlets are reporting, they don't hurt Zimmerman's case since Zimmerman never said Trayvon Martin grabbed or even touched his holster or gun. He said he sensed or felt Trayvon reaching towards his gun after it became exposed while they were struggling on the ground, and that he grabbed Trayvon's hand to prevent him from getting to his gun. Obviously, Martin's DNA would not be on the holster or gun if Zimmerman stopped his hand from reaching them. [More...]