The State of Florida vs George Zimmerman: The Trial

It's also interesting that, although the police managed not to find Zimmerman's gun on Monday, it was O'Mara who gave interviews attesting to the fact that Zimmerman did have a gun, holstered on his person, and that he had touched it through his shirt, and that, when the police arrived, it was in Zimmerman's vehicle.

So, O'Mara was indirectly supporting what Shellie Zimmerman said when she called 911.



O'Mara is through covering for him.

I'm beginning to suspect there is something amiss in the way you post. Are you on medication?

Of course the 911 editing case could had already been settle for that matter.

I am surprise that he did not wish to keep on the wagon train...

it was O'Mara who gave interviews attesting to the fact that Zimmerman did have a gun, holstered on his person, and that he had touched it through his shirt, and that, when the police arrived, it was in Zimmerman's vehicle.

Police: Zimmerman domestic dispute probe on hold until new evidence surfaces

LAKE MARY, Fla. — The investigation of a domestic dispute between George Zimmerman and his estranged wife is on hold because there is no clear evidence to charge anyone and neither side wants to press the case, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

That could change if new evidence surfaces or technicians are able to extract video that recorded the dispute from Shellie Zimmerman’s smashed iPad, said Officer Zach Hudson. Law enforcement analysts are having difficulty obtaining the video because the iPad is in bad shape, he said...

A police report on the dispute released Wednesday shed some light on how it started.

Shellie Zimmerman, accompanied by her father and a friend, was removing some belongings from the couple’s house when George Zimmerman, who still lives there, arrived and began taking photos of her, the report said. The house is owned by Shellie Zimmerman’s parents.

George Zimmerman recorded the items she removed from the house and also the belongings she had placed in her father’s truck, the report said.

Zimmerman said his wife was “taking property that was not agreed upon and he began taking pictures and recording the items,” the report said.

Shellie Zimmerman then took her iPad and started recording her husband taking photos of her, authorities said. George Zimmerman went in the house and locked the front door.

What happened next is in dispute.

Shellie Zimmerman told investigators she heard her father screaming from the garage. Her father, David Dean, told her that Zimmerman had hit him in the face, the report said. She said her husband then smashed her iPad.

During a 911 call, she also told police that George Zimmerman was threatening her and her father with a gun. Later, however, she said she had not seen a gun. Police said they found no gun, but that Shellie Zimmerman’s father “did have a swollen red mark on the bridge of his nose.”

At a news conference late Wednesday, Shellie Zimmerman was with her attorney, Kelly Sims, but didn’t answer any questions about what happened. Sims cited the on-going divorce proceedings and probation as the reason. Sims defended his client’s initial assertions that her husband was armed.

Sims said Shellie Zimmerman found packaging for a new holster in the trash that day and has always known him to carry a gun.

“Bottom line, Shellie had every reason to believe there was a gun,” Sims said.

Sims said his client is hoping to move on as soon as possible.

“The only thing Shellie wants out of the end of this relationship is for it to end with a whimper and not a bang,” Sims said.

In the report George Zimmerman told investigators that his wife had told him she was done picking up her belongings. He said he locked the front door and went to the garage to close it when Shellie Zimmerman’s father confronted him, according to the report.

Shellie Zimmerman’s father threw down his glasses and charged his son-in-law, according to George Zimmerman’s account. Shellie Zimmerman at some point hit her husband with her iPad, George Zimmerman told investigators.

Police officers asked George Zimmerman to remove his shirt so they could see if there were marks on his back. “There were no signs of trauma, redness or marks of any kind in the area where he said he was struck,” the report said.

As many as seven people were at the house — friends of the Zimmermans — and they all have been questioned by investigators, Hudson said. The friends said they didn’t see what happened and footage from the house’s surveillance cameras was inconclusive, Hudson added.

Both sides are refusing to press charges, but Florida law allows police officers to arrest someone for domestic violence without the consent of the victim...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ipad-video-key-in-george-zimmerman-domestic-dispute-case-with-his-estranged-wife/2013/09/11/0f68c562-1ac0-11e3-80ac-96205cacb45a_story.html

Quote:
Billrm, I'm beginning to suspect there is something amiss in the way you post....
All we see is the written word but some time there is more behind just a poster's inability to articulate his message effectively

Sometimes there is more behind it. Like DrunkDrunkDrunk

I've discovered through the years of posting there are posters with issues, both mentally and emotionally who are frequently clear in some areas and ass-backwards in others.

Zimmerman Domestic Dispute About Wife's 'Flying Away,' Her Lawyer Says
Sept. 11, 2013
By SENI TIENABESO and MICHAEL S. JAMES

A confrontation between George Zimmerman and his estranged wife may have escalated into a domestic dispute involving police Monday after he realized she was "flying away," her lawyer told reporters today.

A police report released earlier today had suggested a different scenario, noting that Shellie Zimmerman returned to the couple's Lake Mary, Fla., home and George Zimmerman claimed she was "taking property that was not agreed upon and he began taking pictures and recording the items."

But Shellie Zimmerman's attorney, Kelly Sims, seemed to disagree, saying, "There wasn't any dispute over items. There was maybe a dispute over somebody ... finally spreading her wings and saying, 'I'm flying away.'

"Shellie's desire is to stay as far as away from him as she can for the rest of her days," Sims added. "She lost about 30 pounds since she left George, so things are going great."

George Zimmerman rose to public attention as a neighborhood watch captain who admitted he fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen, during a confrontation in February 2012. He was found not guilty in the death in June, and Shellie Zimmerman claims she separated from him about a month later.

"Her marriage wasn't going great at the time this happened with Trayvon," Sims told reporters today.

"Shellie wants this relationship to end with a whimper, not a bang," Sims said.

Shellie Zimmerman, who filed for divorce last week, told cops the incident began when she arranged to pick up her belongings at the home, according to the police report.

Sims said his client did not expect her husband to be at the house, and released text messages today that seemed to show the Zimmermans coordinating the retrieval of items without his presence.

According to the police report, however, her husband arrived with a woman in the passenger seat and started taking pictures. As a result, Shellie Zimmerman said she also started recording on her iPad and then called her attorney.

George Zimmerman told police that he came to the home to ensure that his wife was getting the property agreed upon by their attorneys.

Shellie Zimmerman told police her husband stuck his arm inside her father's truck and she told him that he was not allowed inside. A dispute ensued and she claimed he grabbed the iPad.

After destroying the device, George Zimmerman reached his hand into his shirt to what she "assumed was a gun," she told police, adding that George Zimmerman told her father to "step closer."

She said her father then told her husband, "What are you going to do, shoot me?"

Samantha Schelbe, who was in the passenger seat of George Zimmerman's car, was "visibly shaken" by the ordeal, police said. Schelbe told police George Zimmerman never touched anyone and said that there were guns in the vehicle but that they had concealed weapons permits for them...

http://abcnews.go.com/US/investigators-zimmerman-domestic-dispute-unable-extract-video-wifes/story?id=20227863

it was O'Mara who gave interviews attesting to the fact that Zimmerman did have a gun,
holstered on his person, and that he had touched it through his shirt, and that,
when the police interviews, it was in Zimmerman's vehicle.

David if true that something that a lawyer could get disbarred for is it revealing?

That seems un-likely to be anything that a defense lawyer 'd wanna
reveal about his client, for no reason.

Here is a more complete list of Firefly charges over the year.

Quote:

That seems un-likely to be anything that a defense lawyer 'd wanna
reveal about his client, for no reason.

It seems very strange given that lawyers normally tell their clients not to share information with the police or make public statements no matter how innocent you might feel and I see no useful purpose for a lawyer to open his mouth in an interview over what a client would have told him in such a situation.

Would It Have Been Legal to Shoot and Kill George Zimmerman?
Abby Ohlheiser
Sep 10, 2013

Yesterday, Shellie Zimmerman told a 911 operator that her husband George "was going to shoot" her and her father at their Florida home. "I'm really, really afraid," she added. And while the incident did not end in violence — nor has anyone been charged as the facts are still sorted out — Shellie's panicked 911 call poses an obvious question: would Florida law have offered Shellie the same defense had she used lethal force against her husband, as George used after he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin?

This, to be clear, is a hypothetical situation: unlike Trayvon Martin, both Zimmermans are around to tell their version of events and we're learning quite a bit about what happened — including that Shellie Zimmerman's story has changed since her initial 911 call. Shellie and her father declined to press charges, and it turns out that police weren't able to find a gun on Zimmerman, or at the scene of the dispute. And we may never know who was telling the truth: George Zimmerman smashed an iPad allegedly used by Shellie Zimmerman to record the whole thing.

But what if Monday's incident had escalated? What if Shellie or her father got hold of a gun to defend themselves? If the situation had gone differently and Shellie had used a gun to shoot George — and George had not survived — one of the last records would have been Shellie's 911 call. George would not be around to give his side of the story. You can listen to the whole thing here, but this is the key point in which Shellie claimed George was armed and threatening her and her father:

Police: Is he inside now?

Shellie: No, he is in his car and he continually has his hand on his gun and he keeps saying step closer and he is just threatening all of us.

Police: Step closer and what?

Shellie: And he is doing to shoot us.

Police: OK.

Shellie: He punched my dad on the nose. My dad has a mark on his face. I saw his glasses were on the floor. He accosted my father and then took my iPad out of my hand and smashed it and cut it with a pocket knife. There is a Lake Mary city worker across the street that I believe saw almost all of it. He is sitting in his truck right now. He just showed up here but my phone died so I had to call from my father's phone. I'm really, really afraid.

Police: We have units in the area where you are at so just stay on the line with me.

Shellie: I don't know what he is capable of. I'm just really scared.

For comparison, you can read the transcript of George Zimmerman's 911 call before he engaged Martin. He started by saying "This guy looks like he's up to no good, or he's on drugs or something," and later added "Yeah, now he's coming towards me. … He's got his hand in his waistband."

So, under the scenario Shellie initially described to police, would Florida law permit her to shoot and kill George Zimmerman? Elizabeth Megale, a Savannah College associate professor who's written about stand your ground and self-defense laws in the state for years, told The Atlantic Wire that Shellie would have a good chance of walking free. "There are a couple of things going for her," Megale said, "They were at the house, so there's actually, in Florida, an even broader protection in your home," if it was proven that Shellie and her father had residency. Shellie filed for divorce from George days ago, and the home is owned by her parents, one of whom was involved in the incident yesterday. If Shellie and her father were established as the residents of the home, they would have been "afforded a presumption of reasonable fear" against George Zimmerman, entitling them to defend themselves with lethal force. And if it's arguable that Zimmerman was entering the home unlawfully, police will start with that presumption, Megale added, which would make it incredibly difficult for Shellie or her dad to face charges.

On the other hand, it appears that George, and not Shellie, was living at the home they used to share at the time of the incident. She was stopping by to pick up some belongings. So even without the presumption afforded to her by the first part of the law, if it was established that George had a right to be there, Shellie or her father would still have "no duty to retreat" if "he or she reasonably believed it was necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another." If that sounds familiar, it's because it's the same self-defense provision invoked by George Zimmerman in his trial.

Because George and Martin were in the street, George had to provide evidence to the police in order to establish his reasonable fear from Martin — including the lacerations he sustained. Megale mentioned the case of John Tabutt for comparison, a 62-year-old Florida man who shot and killed his own fiancée in their home the night before their marriage. Tabutt said that the thought his fiance was an intruder. A grand jury declined to press manslaughter charges against him. "There are tons of cases," Megale said, "where there's no evidence of a break-in, but the shooter is awarded the presumption of reasonable fear anyway."

There's a contrasting comparison to make here, too: Marissa Alexander, also of Florida, was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison after she fired a warning shot towards her abusive husband Gray Rico in what she says was self defense. Rico, who survived, disputed his wife's version of events, and a judge denied her immunity under stand your ground. So maybe the real lesson here is that Florida's laws work best if there's no one else around to dispute the story.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/09/would-it-have-been-legal-shoot-and-kill-george-zimmerman/69257/

One might just wonder who is the one on drugs and or who have mental health problems.......LOL

I thought that George Zimmerman wasn't supposed to be there when his wife came on Monday. He did show up unexpectedly. His behavior is what did provoke the entire incident.

This man just can't control himself...

It seemed before the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the two had marital problems and this did not begin as a result of the killing of Trayvon.

with ethics above reproach;