George Zimmerman: Motion to disqualify judge

[QuietDan]

IMO, it's about time. Judge Lester in this case has been popping off with his own personal opinion, which is a huge no-no.

Zimmerman has a really smart lawyer who is on top of the case and promptly filed a well-supported motion to disqualify the judge based on his own statements.

Read it and weep -- Here is the court filing itself:

http://www.cfnews13....-judge-0713.pdf

Basically, it says that the judge MUST remove himself if the defendant is making a reasonable case. The judge can't dispute the facts in the case, that's up to the NEXT judge. The act of filing this motion essentially guarantees that Zimmerman will have a new judge.

************************

George Zimmerman: Motion to disqualify judge

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.

The state attorney's office issued the following statement Friday regarding this motion:

"The State objects to the Defendant trying to disqualify Judge Lester. We will file a formal response to the Defendant’s Motion early next week."

http://www.cfnews13....merman_mot.html

Edited July 14, 2012 by QuietDan

[vontar]

^{Now if we could just get the media disbarred. It will be dam near impossible for him to have a fair jury tial.}

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Glad he has a good lawyer.

[DaveTN]

Zimmerman is out of jail on bond, the Judge should not have made the statements he made; put in a new Judge and get on with the trial.

[TMF]

If anything this is gonna cause problems later on if Zimmerman is convicted in regards to an appeal. Even the prosecutors should be on board with this.

[mikegideon]

I still don't think they'll find him guilty with what's been presented so far. Sure, you have folks that are certain he's guilty. Finding 12 random folks that all AGREE he's guilty? I wouldn't bet my own money on that. It would be different if he didn't have decent council. I think his lawyers are great.

Edited July 15, 2012 by mikegideon

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I do, too. That pesky thing called presumption of innocence should make a lot of folks crazy, but it

should prevail.

[leroy]

Im glad to see that the lawyers are on top of things. As others have said, it may be impossible for George Zimmerman to get a fair trial with this bunch of political "flotsom and jetsom" in authority. Ive believed from the beginning that this whole spectacle was nothing but a political sideshow designed to scare Zimmerman into a plea deal for a crime he didnt commit.

This whole Zimmerman trial thing is (...in my opinion...) nothing more than vote buying, race bating, and post civil war reconstruction politics by a bunch of political operatives (...both demorat and rino republican alike...) staged in order to "punish" an innocent (...though evidently unliked guy like Zimmerman...) for defending himself against an 18 year old thug that would have probably killed him in a fists only fight. It is my belief, that this case would have never come to trial if the race roles were reversed.

It is the politics of vote buying (...sanford has a 25% black population....) and state legal sytem intimidation; pure and simple. It is also (...in my opinion...) a "pushback" by certain operatives in the state legal enterprise (...both demorat and republican...) against the "stand your ground law" which was duly passed by the florida legislature. Lots of folks in the legal enterprize (...read that judges, prosecuting attorneys, etc...) dont like private citizens taking the mantle of "final adjudicating of crimes" by defending themselves against thugs. That encroaches on their territories. They could care less if you or a loved one are murdered or maimed by a thug; they get paid either way.

In short, its politics, race bating, and anti armed citizen bias at its worst in state government. The people of Florida deserve much better than they get from this bunch of carpetbagging misfits in government.

leroy

[RobertNashville]

Yep...I've thought from the beginning that Zimmerman was being railroaded by the racebaiters and pundits looking to push their own self-importnace.

Zimmerman may not be totally innocent or without blame in what happened but that's a long way form second degree murder. He, at the very, very least deserves a fair trial and I'm glad he appears to have good lawyers on his side.

[mikegideon]

Im glad to see that the lawyers are on top of things. As others have said, it may be impossible for George Zimmerman to get a fair trial with this bunch of political "flotsom and jetsom" in authority. Ive believed from the beginning that this whole spectacle was nothing but a political sideshow designed to scare Zimmerman into a plea deal for a crime he didnt commit.

This whole Zimmerman trial thing is (...in my opinion...) nothing more than vote buying, race bating, and post civil war reconstruction politics by a bunch of political operatives (...both demorat and rino republican alike...) staged in order to "punish" an innocent (...though evidently unliked guy like Zimmerman...) for defending himself against an 18 year old thug that would have probably killed him in a fists only fight. It is my belief, that this case would have never come to trial if the race roles were reversed.

It is the politics of vote buying (...sanford has a 25% black population....) and state legal sytem intimidation; pure and simple. It is also (...in my opinion...) a "pushback" by certain operatives in the state legal enterprise (...both demorat and republican...) against the "stand your ground law" which was duly passed by the florida legislature. Lots of folks in the legal enterprize (...read that judges, prosecuting attorneys, etc...) dont like private citizens taking the mantle of "final adjudicating of crimes" by defending themselves against thugs. That encroaches on their territories. They could care less if you or a loved one are murdered or maimed by a thug; they get paid either way.

In short, its politics, race bating, and anti armed citizen bias at its worst in state government. The people of Florida deserve much better than they get from this bunch of carpetbagging misfits in government.

leroy

Don't forget the Libtards that just hate guns. Every shooting is viewed as an opportunity.

[gjohnsoniv]

Now he is a child molester apparently: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/zimmerman-witness-sexual-molestation-160900334.html

[billyscott]

You're quick gjohnsoniv. I just read this, channel 5 news. It was reported as breaking news in the case. So what he did at age 8 means what? He had that look in his eye. It's up to the Courts to decide his guilt or innocence. NOT the press. This crap is getting sickening.

[gjohnsoniv]

You're quick gjohnsoniv. I just read this, channel 5 news. It was reported as breaking news in the case. So what he did at age 8 means what? He had that look in his eye. It's up to the Courts to decide his guilt or innocence. NOT the press. This crap is getting sickening.

I try to avoid the reposts. Yeah it's getting incredibly annoying. Things aren't going the way they would like so they have to bring up something else to get the public attention, that or something big is happening in Washington and they want to temporarily distract.

[MattCary]

This whole affair has officially reached "travesty of justice" status.

I certainly hopes this breaks GZ of his Democrat support.