Tag: Trayvon Martin (page 9)

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 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...]

Is a motion by George Zimmerman's lawyers for a gag order on trial witnesses on the horizon?

George Zimmerman's friends, Mark and Sondra Osterman, thought they would help George out by writing a book about his good qualities. The book is scheduled to be released shortly, and the Ostermans are going to be on Dr. Phil the week of September 10 discussing it.

Mark Osterman has been listed as a potential state witness. He accompanied Shellie Zimmerman to the police station the night of the shooting of Trayvon Martin to pick George up when the police were done questioning him. He also drove George to the site of the shooting the next day where police filmed George doing a video re-enactment of his encounter with Trayvon. Osterman, a federal air marshal who used to be a Seminole County deputy sheriff, is featured in the promos for the Dr. Phil appearance as Zimmerman's best friend. [More...]

Here is today's opinion by the 5th District Court of Appeals in Florida granting George Zimmerman's Writ of Prohibition and removing Judge Kenneth Lester from the case.

"A motion is legally sufficient if it alleges facts that would create in a reasonably prudent person a wellfounded fear of not receiving a fair and impartial trial."

Although many of the allegations in Zimmerman's motion, standing alone, do not meet the legal sufficiency test,1 and while this is admittedly a close call, upon careful review we find that the allegations, taken together, meet the threshold test of legal sufficiency. Accordingly, we direct the trial judge to enter an order of disqualification which requests the chief circuit judge to appoint a successor judge.

This is good news for George Zimmerman. And, in my view, the right decision. But who will be the new judge? Do they call retired judges in to serve in Florida?

Bmaz at Empty Wheel has more.

The state has filed its response (available here) in the 5th District Court of Appeals to George Zimmerman's request for a Writ of Prohibition seeking to have Judge Lester removed from the case.

Shorter version: The judge gave Zimmerman a well-deserved tongue lashing, but his fear he won't get a fair trial from the judge is not objectively reasonable, and thus his motion to recuse was not legally sufficient and Lester was right to deny it.

None of the comments by the trial court rise to the level of being legally sufficient to establish an objectively reasonable fear by Petitioner that he will not receive a fair trial by the judge. Instead, the judge was simply giving Petitioner a well deserved tongue lashing for allowing others to mislead the court about his passport and his financial situation.

The test is whether a reasonable person in George Zimmerman's position would fear not getting a fair trial from this judge. [More...]

Mark O'Mara announced today on GZLegalCase he is shuttering the Facebook page the legal team created in April. In part, it's served its purpose. In other respects, the discussion in comments on the FB page have been a hindrance.

One of our published goals is Discouraging Speculation, and Facebook, by its nature, does not help us with this goal. Every post made on Facebook becomes an open thread where anyone on the site can comment, and comments inevitably lead to conversations about evidence and speculation about guilt or innocence. This type of conversation is a natural part of discourse, and there are plenty of places on the Internet where it is appropriate for this to happen, but it need not happen on a page hosted by the defense.

[More...]

Mark O'Mara has posted the Petition for Writ of Prohibition and all Appendices filed in the 5th Circuit DCA on the GZlegalcase website. The index as to what is in the Appendices is here. The Petition for Writ of Prohibition (concerning the recusal of Judge Kenneth Lester) is here.

The Appendices have transcripts of the April 20, April 27, June 1 and June 29 hearings. They also have transcripts of Investigator Singleton and Serion's interview of Zimmerman the night of the shooting and Investigator Serino's telephone call with George on 3/25/12. There's also a transcript of witness 6 ("John")'s interview with FDLE on March 20, 2012. He is the witness who saw the struggle between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin and says Trayvon was on top and Zimmerman was struggling to get up. [More...]

Bump and Update: Mark O'Mara said at a press conference today he will appeal Judge Kenneth Lester's denial of his recusal motion. When asked about his announcement last week his client will file a Stand Your Ground motion, he said:

He told reporters today that he believes the facts of the case show his client didn't have any option to retreat rather than shoot.

"I think the facts suggest in this case that what probably happened was that my client was reacting to having his nose broken" while lying on his back being pummeled, O'Mara said.

I agree. But he had no duty to retreat under Stand Your Ground. If O'Mara is discussing a "duty to retreat", I would think he's not talking Stand Your Ground, but traditional self-defense. (I didn't hear the press conference, but the media is reporting he said he's not proceeding under SYG but self-defense, and intends to argue it at a pre-trial hearing.) Earlier post below:[More...]

Link.

Converse civilly please.

Update (TL): I wrote the following last night forgot to post it: [More...]

Judge Kenneth Lester has denied George Zimmerman's motion that he recuse himself from the case.

In an order entered today, Judge Lester stated Zimmerman's motion was "legally insufficient." He did not explain why. The rule on judicial disqualifications is here.

Details of Zimmerman's motion to recuse are here. As I opined then:

Put yourself in Zimmerman's shoes: The issue is how he feels, and whether his feelings are reasonable. Would you, if you were George Zimmerman, fear not getting a fair trial before Judge Lester?

I believe Zimmerman can request a writ of prohibition preventing the case from going forward while the appeals court reviews the issue.