Posted on 06/04/2012 11:07:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Trayvon Martin case's Judge Lester has made a judicial misstep about the George Zimmerman bond revocation. And it's a misstep which only serves to increase the racial tensions in the country, unnecessarily.
Judge Lester contends that the Trayvon Martin shooter’s bond had to be revoked because the suspect lied during his first bond hearing about the state of his finances, and that his wife, Shellie, did too, telling the court that the two were practically broke, which led to a $150,000 bail instead of the $1 million sought by the prosecution. But the judge isn’t giving the public all the facts in this case.
The suspect’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, has pointed out that most of the donated money was in an independent trust that neither Zimmerman nor his lawyers could tap. So that means Shellie and George weren’t lying when they said they were broke, because they really didn’t have access to all of the $135,000 monies raised on the accused’s behalf.
And that’s the first misstep by Judge Lester: a rush to judgment in a case that, if no other, called for cooler heads to prevail.
It also shows that Judge Lester is not only insensitive to the racial issues that are boiling over in this case, but that he is for some reason fanning the flames by deviating from what would typically happen in such a case.
In typical situations like this, a judge would not immediately revoke a bond. Instead, he would confer with the counsel and the prosecutor first; taking the opportunity to learn why there appeared to be a miscommunication about assets. He might even have the accused present, in a fact-gathering hearing, before he made a decision over revocation. He definitely wouldn’t make it a media affair, as this judge has done....
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Yesterday, AOL, in an effort to fan-the-flames, posted a headline about “Secret Money”...
All I can say is that if this were my son, I’d have my relatives in Peru send him a spare passport and ask for political asylum there. The president in that country is a lefty who hates the US, but he is also a metziso so would recognize the racial hatred for hispanis in the USA.
This would make a great subtitle for a book about this whole thing.
I understand that people may interpret it differently, but I already linked to that info, as you know.
As O’mara said below, GZ’s credibility has been damaged.
GZ will get a new bond hearing, and be bonded out again.
Pretending that he and his wife did not try to deceive the court will not help. They need to be forthright, as their lawyer was.
“The gravity of this mistake has been distinctly illustrated, and Mr. Zimmerman understands that this mistake has undermined his credibility, which he will have to work to repair.”
I agree about the money. GZ is not really in any better financial position than he claimed to be in the first place.
I don’t think there is a passport issue. O’mara explained that satisfactorily to Lester. Lester accepted the explanation, iirc.
That's completely wrong. I know because I sent $20 and it went straight to Zimmerman's paypal account. You are conflating that with the new fund which is controlled by the lawyers.
I do not understand why Zimmerman would trust anyone or anything to do with the US legal system.
“I do not understand why Zimmerman would trust anyone or anything to do with the US legal system.”
For that matter why should you or I trust a corrupt system?
Don’t use the word recall!
“nor my daily plan of defense of self and others”
Must be too early for my brain, what is a daily plan of defense? Thanks
The $150,000 was already an excessively high bond for someone who was destitute then and still is, is not a flight risk, still has no assets, has to depend upon the charity of others, already has racked up a $50,000 legal bill, and is charged with a crime that the prosecution after a month of looking at the forensic evidence and tampering with witnessses still has no evidence for. If the judge looked at the totality of where the trial is one month later, he should be lowering the bond if not freeing GZ.
Have they deposed DeeDee, the prosecution's ghost witness yet??? She'll be the next one they will have to set bond for because whe'll be a no-show.
If bond is denied or raised, then GZ should demand his stand your ground hearing pronto and make the prosecution put up or shut up right now.
This is what I understood and I think Z used some of those funds for living expenses before the lawyers took over the fund.
I just think Z and his lawyer made an error in not disclosing the account. I do not think they intentionally lied. I do think this whole case is wrongful prosecution!
What about the “secret” passport?
The money wasn't put into a trust account until a week after the bail hearing, and the "infraction" occured at the bond hearing.
I think that's a valid point. Zimmerman has every reason to believe his action on February 26th was justified, and his action immediately following demonstrate that. Full cooperation with investigators (even calling Corey). I bet he was stunned when he was charged with murder. Now, he might be thinking, I'm up against a corrupt system. I think he is up against an unethical prosecutor, that for sure.
Trust is a two way street, and not only does Zimmerman have to convince the judge that Zimmerman is trustworthy, the judge has a hill to climb, as well.
Elected. I don't know when his term runs out. Interesting background of his judicial history at New Judge in George Zimmerman Case is Married to a State Homicide Prosecutor - Talkleft, Apr 18, 2012
The account was known. Zimmerman had a rough idea how much it held, and knew it held over a hundred grand. O'Mara knew there was an account, but (if you believe him, I do) he didn't know it held such a substantial sum of money until April 25th or 26th. He disclosed it on CNN the night of the 26th, and to the court on the next day.
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