Posted on 05/08/2012 7:39:01 AM PDT by Aunt Polgara
George Zimmerman's Arraignment Hearing to be live streamed today at 1:30 pm ET
Could they have asked for futher tests on some of the evidence? Would that have to be made public according to the way they are playing the game?
Would certainly want my own people looking at the autopsy and other forensic evidence.
Divide by wealth
Divide by political affiliation
Most of the discovery material flows between the state and defendant, with no public visibility. Florida is different because all investigative material that is owed to a defendant is also, as a matter of law, a public record.
As far as what defendant wants to do with the evidence, that is up to defendant. Similar for the state. Expert review and testimony is not public until the reports are filed with the court.
FWIW, I don't see any legitimate reason for dragging this out. The case is straightforward, and nearly all the uncertainty is ginned up conjecture and fabrication.
Zimmerman runs some risk that memories will fade, etc. with the passage of time. The eyewitnesses and investigators all favor Zimmerman's account, and the sooner he gets that into the court, the better.
In the short arraignment, the judge set Zimmerman's pretrial hearing for Aug. 8.George Zimmerman arraigned in Trayvon Martin death - WKMG Local 6
Until there are minutes of today's proceeding, I don't know what that pretrial hearing is for. I assume it is for nothing more than setting dates for later steps in the process, clearing up any discovery disputes between the defendant and the state, etc.
I presume O'Mara will be deposing state witnesses between now and August 8, as he has a right to do so with certain of the state's witnesses. August 8 might be the date for the immunity hearing, but given the slow walk that is underway, I think O'Mara would rather not; and would use August 8 only for scheduling of the immunity hearing and, in case immunity is not granted, set a date for swearing in a jury and getting on with the trial.
O'Mara's request to file Pretrial Motions (especially those to Dismiss the "information"), 10 days after the the arraignment deadline set by Rule 3.190, was implicitly accepted by the court, as the court allowed "arraignment" to proceed without presence of the defendant.
The next action may well come from the press, as it attempts to make public, that which Corey is stifling from public view.
LOL
"I think I get the point"
I don't know - I don't think they can file a claim for "Future Profits from Illegal Drug Sales". But I could be mistaken.
One, to take the piss out of Sharpton's mau mau.
Two, to allow a civil suit settlement to be crafted as a fait accompli, and presented commensurately to ease the dismissal of the charges, and allow the Feds to bow out.
The whole thing reeks of being scripted now, with Corey as the cut-out/bag woman.
Fur sure: He’s a divider not a uniter.
Zimmerman blew it, in my opinion, we he went 'off the reservation' and started calling people like Hannity on his own (and apparently Corey's office). I understand why Hal Uhrig couldn't represent him, but having watched Urhig's press conferences I think Zimmerman himself wishes Hal Uhrig and his partner were still Zimmerman's defense counsel.
Your take on that?
I don't know.
I agree with you that calling Corey was a mistake. Now he knows that the state is his enemy. Corey is his enemy forever, at any rate, as well as anybody who travels in her circle of work.
I think Zimmerman will be well served if he's made whole financially, and able to get on with his life. In his shoes, I'd be pissed that things were being slow walked, but O'Mara might be more forthright and honest with Zimmerman than he is being with the public; and Zimmerman may be perfectly comfortable with an offense/defense coordinated slow-walk of the case.
As for Uhrig and Zimmerman, i think there never was a decent working relationship there. If I was in a jam, and some lawyer cam along an acted the part of ambulance chaser, I might be inclined to give them as much rope as they wanted, to hang themselves with.
At any rate, Zimmerman can fire O'Mara any time he wants to. For the time being, I think Zimmerman trusts O'Mara.
Based on a little bit of further study, I now find that was incorrect. The below blockquote comes from A Motion for Continuance and Waiver of Speedy Trial in a completely different case.
Counsel understands that the Court expects pretrial motions to be heard and disposed of and discovery to be completed by docket sounding and that further continuances will be granted only for emergencies and unavailability of witnesses who have been served with a subpoena.
The Zimmerman docket has entries reflecting yesterday's court activity, including one that reads,
05/08/2012 DKSN DOCKET SOUNDING SET FOR 08/08/2012 AT 0830AM IN COURTROOM 5B, AT CRIMINAL 05/08/2012 DKSN --JUSTICE BUILDING BEFORE JUDGE KENNETH R LESTER JR.
Motions to dismiss based on immunity and based on "overcharging" to second degree murder are to be made and disposed of before August 8th.
hmmmm.......in the heat of the summer. Bring it on!
When do you expect the discovery material being released to the public?
The discovery material is not filed with the court. It is served on opposing counsel. However, that act also operates to unequivocally convert the material into a public record. Corey loses all the excuses she has used so far, to prevent the public from obtaining state's evidence against Zimmerman.
I'd guess two weeks earliest, six weeks latest. Assuming that O'Mara is okay with the August 8 "docket sounding" deadline; and that he intends to file his pretrial motions to dismiss by May 18th; and that he "sort of backtracks" to being entitled to discovery 15 days after arraignment ...
Thinking out loud: O'Mara is going to want to read Zimmerman's statements during interrogation, before filing a Motion to Dismiss based on Immunity grounds, so he will want that less than 10 days from now. I don't see any need for redactions in that, but O'Mara and Corey are going to be dealing with the state's evidence as a unit; not as separable parts.
While O'Mara is apt to get the material well within the next 10 days (if he doesn't have it already), he has no duty to make it public (indeed, he can't make witness addresses and phone numbers public); and as far as I can tell, he does not want the information to be public. In any event, he is not a custodian of a public record.
So, the source of the information will be Corey's office, and she'll likely have to be compelled by Court order. I don't think the press has exhausted its interest in the case just yet. So, my 2-6 weeks guess is the press getting frustrated to the point of suing for a court order; the court ordering Corey to comply, plus time for redaction.
Order of Continuance (accepting O'Mara's Motion for continuance)
Notice of August 8 Docket Sounding
Arraignment Minutes
Nothing "hot" in there. The general learning chore is to discover the expectations associated with "docket sounding" landmark.
Procedure to waive docket sounding (method to delay or continue the prosecution - I don't see this as available, since there are few witnesses; none will be uncooperative; etc.)
Docket Sounding Waiver (noted in an earlier post as "pretrial motions made and disposed of" date)
Judge Lester can keep things moving along smartly, if he wants to.
So the question is: “Does he have reason to ‘WANT To”. Do we know the political party of the judge?
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