George Zimmerman: Motion to disqualify judge

Central Fla News 13 ^ | July 13, 2012 | Staff

[abb]

SANFORD --

George Zimmerman's attorneys want to disqualify the judge who is presiding over his second-degree murder trial.

The motion filed Friday says Zimmerman "has a reasonable fear that he cannot get a fair trial or a fair stand your ground hearing by this court."

The motion specifically mentions the new bail Judge Kenneth Lester set for George Zimmerman earlier this month. The motion says Lester made disparaging remarks about Zimmerman's character, says he should be "prosecuted for additional crimes," and is holding the threat of future contempt proceedings over Zimmerman's head.

The judge revoked Zimmerman's first $150,000 bond, and had him rearrested after he allegedly misled the court as to how much money he had available in a fund for his defense.

The motion also says the court is not weighing any evidence of Zimmerman's innocence in the case when determining bond, other than to say "the only issue is the viability of the defendant's self-defense/Stand Your Ground claim" but they also accuse the judge of not discussing that issue either.

The motion also says:

"The court departed from its role as an impartial, objective minister of justice when it stated on two occasions in its order that in the court's personal opinion there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed a violation of Florida Statute 903.035(3), a third degree felony punishable by five years in prison. This is tantamount to instructing the state that Mr. Zimmerman should be prosecuted for this offense."

George Zimmerman is on trial for second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin last February.

[Randy Larsen]

Your posts are very informative!

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Uncle Chip]

There is scuttlebutt over here that Crump and company may have just extorted a settlement from the Retreat’s Home Owner’s Association:

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/07/14/hoa-extortion-settlement/

And that Judge Lester’s July 5th Order Setting Bail was the deciding document that solidified the settlement.

If that is true, what’s next for Lester???

[Rides_A_Red_Horse]

O’mara needs to make a phone call to Barry Cohen. He needs a team, not a one man team. O’mara is qualified, but he needs another brain or two. This case is predudicial against the defendant.

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He needs to contact Massad Ayoob immediately.

[Uncle Chip]

And so it begins:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/15/2897557/zimmerman-defense-attorney-will.html#storylink=cpy

[Cboldt]

I think this is going to peter out pretty quickly. There isn't much "there" there, even if everything she says is true.

There's a risk of blowback. I don't think W9 will like being under the microscope, and it's not her fault she's there. It's Corey's fault for deciding to produce this as discovery, even though it is irrelevant to the murder case. There is no duty to produce irrelevant material. Production of this interview was unnecessary to resolve the murder/self-defense case.

There will be some speculation as to why it was produced, I think it was produced as an act of petty revenge or otherwise "dirty trick" on the part of Corey, thinking that the allegations will hurt Zimmerman, regardless of the outcome of the trial.

Corey may well be getting heat from ALL sides, less from Zimmerman (he's more likely to just let it blow by, no need to remark) than from W9 and her defenders. And anybody who is offended by a prosecutor going above and beyond in the revenge department is going to take it out on Corey, too.

[Uncle Chip]

I think this is going to peter out pretty quickly.

I think so too.

There's a risk of blowback.

If she thought there was molestation during her teenage years, wait until the MSM and the state prosecutor and everyone else who gets a hold of her name get finished with her.

[Cboldt]

-- If she thought there was molestation during her teenage years, wait until the MSM and the state prosecutor and everyone else who gets a hold of her name get finished with her. --

I see a good deal of "Defamation bait" too. Lots of headlines about Zimmerman being accused of being a child molester.

I was felling a little sorry for W9, but the more I think about it, she's being overly vindictive. She claims she's afraid of the guy, hates to run into him, but instead of either telling him off or getting a no-contact order, she brings up this itch that's been bugging her for the last 10 years or so (no incident with him since 2001) at what couldn't be a worse time or situation for Zimmerman - under a cloud of a murder charge.

Her claims that he's a racist, made in her early calls to SPD, are recanted in the March 20 interview with Corey's people. She has no evidence that George is a racist, but (says W9) his mother is.

O'Mara is going to depose her. This is going to be an unofficial trial, within a trial. I agree with you, W9 has managed to turn her life upside down too, and this is going to dawn on her in the coming months.

[Uncle Chip]

I wonder how far removed she is as a cousin and whether down in South America if as cousins they would be allowed to marry. Perhaps at the meeting with their parents when she was 20, what she really wanted was for him to marry her and for the parents to make it happen with the threat of going to the authorities if he didn’t.