In my view, nothing Lester wrote can be fairly interpreted to show bias. When a defendant deceives the court, as Zimmerman did on bail, the judge is permitted – indeed, REQUIRED, in his role as fact-finder – to document those facts that he relied upon to support his vision.
For Zimmerman to claim he’s now prejudiced as a result is akin to the defendant that murders his parents and then asks the judge for mercy because he’s an orphan.
You are confusing the judge’s role at trial with his role pre-trial. Certainly Z’s deceit is not a proper subject for his murder trial. Certainly the judge should never advise the jury about it.
But Ostermam should’ve known that Zimmerman isn’t the sharpest package of cheddar in the dairy case, and therefore liable to slip up and say something incriminating. If he didnt advise him to lawyer up before being interrogated, I have to think he too is an idiot. Which may explain why he was fired from the Sanford PD (he was duped by a con man and lost a lot of money). And it could also explain why he’s friends with Zimmerman.
Still irks me that it’s just now coming out that this guy was at the scene shortly after the shooting. I mean, I’ve heard of friends so close they help each other bury bodies and stuff, but it’s weird to me that he was there soon enough to chat with Zimmerman before he was taken away. I wanna know more about this. It sounds hinkey to me.
I am not familiar with what W6 said. At least in the context of being W6.
You bring up who “initiated the confrontation,” do we have any evidence of that outside of GZ report?
“evidence must also eliminate every other reasonable hypothesis”–other than the hypothesis that self defense did not exist here, or other than the state’s narrative?
Zimmerman doesn’t actually have to prove that he didn’t start the fight even at a SYG hearing. He just needs to be more plausible than the prosecution. The physical evidence says the fight started at the top of the T. The prosecution needs a more plausible story than Zimmerman’s story about why Martin was there and how Zimmerman started the fight without leaving a mark on Martin. Dede statement is actually damaging to the prosecution, since she said that Martin was afraid of Zimmerman. That makes it implausible that he was waiting to talk to Zimmerman.
At trial Zimmerman doesn’t need to be more plausible than the prosecution. He just needs a plausible story.
You dont find it questionable that his presence was unacknowledged in the police reports and all of Zimmerman’s narratives? I do. If there was nothing wrong about him being there, there is no reason it shouldn’t have been reported. The hinkiness is in this ommission. It suggests there was concerted effort on both the PD and Zimmerman to keep this guy’s name out of this mess. The question is why.
The physical evidence says the fight started at the top of T. The prosecution has to prove that Martin wasn’t there to start a fight. Not a plausible explanation, but proof.
Now, I’m having trouble finding that in Florida’s Standard Jury Instructions for Criminal Cases (prolly not the right place to be looking but I did find a SCoF case that mentions it, “This is a typical “false in one, false in all” argument and is eminently proper.”, but I’m really, really, sure something that reads pretty much like the NJ instructions is in there because it’s one of the fundamental issues the trier of fact in any jurisdiction has to deal with.
And if the physical evidence contradicts Z’s assertion that he defended himself?
CMC fnord!
While I’'m not a formally educated lawyer I am a graduate of the Vincent LaGuardia Gambini School of Law. That is, I’ve watched thousands of hours of proceedings in hundreds of criminal trials. I’ve learned almost enough to be able to act for myself in a criminal trial, and more than enough to know how bad an idea that is.
So, you’ll have to forgive me if I give your lesson in American criminal law the attention it, for me, deserves.
Have you actually read O’Mara Motion? He cited several errors that Judge Lester made and some rather non judicial language he used. Even If we assume that Zimmerman’s action caused Judge Lester’s anger, it looks like he over reacted. Judges need to keep their anger in check.
It was just yesterday that you pooh-poohed my speculation that O’Mara would file a motion to disqualify Judge Lester. According to the time stamps, O’Mara had actually already filed the motion when we discussed it.
IIRC, you are a former prosecutor. It looks to me that Jeralyn has a more accurate ideas about how to play defense. Her post last night points up several tactical advantages in O’Mara’s motion. He is putting Judge Lester in a situation where even if doesn’t recuse himself, he could end up being reversed on appeal if Zimmerman is convicted. If he doesn’t recuse himself, then O’Mara can file an appeal that will freeze the trail until the appeals court can rule on it.
Bricker was a defense attorney I believe. Way more credible source of information on these sorts of details and tactics than you are I would suspect. I’ll go ahead and take his word for it. Why are you so surprised that O’Mara is doing what he can to defend his client? Of course he wants a new judge because he and Zimmerman already blew it with this one with their actions and stories regarding his deception of the court at the bond hearing. Why does he deserve a do over for his own actions? “Can we get a new judge? We promise not to lie to this one, cross our hearts?” Is that how it works? You don’t get a mulligan because you pissed off the court. How about just stop pissing off the court?
Then the state will have an easier time proving he murdered him. Showing his statement is false does not, by itself, prove beyond reasonable doubt that he’s guilty, but it will certainly help them.
That said, I’ll be interested to know what evidence they would use to do that, and why they’ve held it back for so long…
I actually basing my statement on what another attorney said, not my personal opinion. Why do you think I am surprised at O’Mara’s action when I predicted them. I was only surprised that my prediction came true so quickly.