Tag: Trayvon Martin (page 8)

George Zimmerman's attorneys have filed a motion to delay George Zimmerman's trial until November. The motion to continue is here.There is quite a bit of new information in it.

I think the biggest revelation is about Trayvon Martin’s cell phone and mysteriously missing data. Even if you have no interest in the George Zimmerman case, you should read this to see the extent to which information stored in your phone is capable of being retrieved and provided to law enforcement (or anyone else who gets their hands on your phone and wants to know what’s on it.) It's a new dawn in the age of the Tele-Rat. [More....]

In the George Zimmerman case, Mark O'Mara has requested a subpoena to ABC News for Matt Gutman's recordings of interviews with Witness #8, who Gutman refers to as "Dee Dee" (not her real name.) You can read the motion here.

Dee Dee is the witness who claims to have been on the phone with Trayvon Martin moments before his fatal encounter with George Zimmerman. Her existence was revealed on March 20, 2012 at a press conference called by Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump, at which he played snippets of what she told Crump during an audio interview the night before. Gutman has said he has a recording of the interview and interviewed her several times that week.

Here is the backstory. (More here.) Diwataman has the videos of Gutman's and Crump's statements on Dee Dee.

George Zimmerman's legal team has received the school records of Trayvon Martin. The court authorized the subpoena in October. The state didn't object to the subpoena per se, but it wanted them submitted to the court under seal for in camera review before being released to the defense, instead of having the records delivered directly to the defense team. The Court denied that request. The Martin family, through its lawyers, objected to the subpoena.

It issued this press release today about the records, which will not be made public.

I explained the legal support for the request and including the Munoz case his lawyers cite today here, here and here. [More...]

George Zimmerman has filed his defamation lawsuit against NBC and three reporters for their false editing of his non-emergency call to police to report Trayvon Martin. The reporters are Ron Allen, Lilia Lucianno and Jeff Burnside. Luciano and Burnside were since fired. The complaint is here and a website for the case is here.

On Thursday, December 6, 2012, George Zimmerman filed a legal complaint against NBCUniversal Media, LLC and three individuals who were employed by NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Inc. during the time relevant to the complaint: Ron Allen, Lilia Rodriguez Luciano, and Jeff Burnside. The 24-page complaint alleges “NBC News saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain.” The complaint, filed in Seminole County, demands a trial by jury, and demands damages sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court.

The complaint was filed in the Seminole County Circuit Court. His lawyers are Mark O'Mara and The Beasley Law Firm in Philadelphia. [More...]

The State's Attorney's Office today published non-protected material contained in the 9th Supplemental Discovery Release. It consists of additional FBI reports and interviews, some photographs, one recorded interview and some FDLE reports (short summaries of actions taken.) Zimmerman's attorneys have made some of the FBI reports available here.

What I found most interesting were three FDLE reports on for April 2, 2012, the day the state interviewed Witness #8, aka Trayvon's phone friend "Dee Dee." (background here.)[More...]

This is the photo Sanford Police Officer Mike Wagner took of George Zimmerman sitting in the patrol car the night Trayvon Martin was shot.
The state finally turned it over to the defense. Previously, it sent them a black and white xerox of the photo. The defense had to file motions and argue in court for the production of the original photo. [More...]

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...]

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...]