It was a see-saw ride for a while, as bits of information came out, then disappeared, then reappeared in sufficiently different form to make it appear that if George Zimmerman wasn’t exactly good, he wasn’t sufficiently bad to be guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.
After what was thought to be the bulk of the evidence was brought to light, Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft did the math.
Zimmerman should prevail on classic self-defense at trial regardless of stand your ground. Raising stand your ground before trial gives him the possibility of a quicker win, and the opportunity to preview the state’s strategy before it gets to a jury.
Jeralyn makes a terrific barometer, given her credentials as criminal defense lawyer and her unabashed liberal politics. But then, that was the calculus as of last weekend, This weekend is different.
George Zimmerman has been
remanded upon the
prosecution’s motion, based on the allegation of two lies told in order to obtain a reduction in bail. The first was about the funds collected via paypal, and knowledge of how much was available and who had access to them. The second was about Zimmerman’s passport.
Prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda complained Friday, “This court was led to believe they didn’t have a single penny. It was misleading and I don’t know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie.” The judge agreed and ordered Zimmerman returned to jail by Sunday afternoon.
“Does your client get to sit there like a potted plant and lead the court down the primrose path? That’s the issue,” Lester said. “He can’t sit back and obtain the benefit of a lower bond based upon those material falsehoods.”
At the time of the bail reduction hearing in April, Zimmerman’s fortunes looked pretty bleak. Things have improved since then, but no one could have anticipated the swing. As is often the case, defendant’s would rather be safe than sorry, and figure they can outsmart the system. Ah, yes. Those fools will never know.
That they knew where every dime collected by paypal was, and had made sure it was accessible to Shelly, George Zimmerman’s wife, comes as little surprise. Her testimony at the bail hearing, that she really knew nothing about it, struck me as silly at the time. It’s easy to disclaim knowledge, since it’s usually hard to prove otherwise. Unless, of course, you talk about it on a recorded jail phone.
But then, they used code to conceal their conversation. Because nobody ever thought of that before.
What strikes me as far more damning is Zimmerman’s having turned over an out-of-date passport, while retaining a second valid one (obtained on the claim that the first was lost or stolen) in a safe deposit box. There is no wiggle room on this, and its utility to a fellow who might not like the way his case is going is as clear as can be. This is a lie that can’t be explained away.
I envision Mark O’Mara banging his head against his desk. Things couldn’t have been going better for the case, and while there was still a fight ahead, the tide had turned and his client was no longer the most despised man in America. And now this.
No doubt O’Mara thought his client had provided him with sufficiently accurate information at the time of the bail reduction to do his job. There is no allegation by the prosecution that O’Mara knew anything about the lies or was in any way complicit in misleading the court. And frankly, there was no way O’Mara would have been foolish enough to have even a pinkie in such a bone-headed scheme.
But defendants? They knew better. They come up with plans and bet that no one will ever figure it out. They think that no other defendant in the history of the criminal justice system has ever tried to pull a fast one on the court and the prosecution. No one will look. No one will know. No one will figure it out.
It’s a fool’s bet, and fool’s usually lose.
The defense against the charges of second degree murder has yet to come. And when the case is tried, O’Mara likely planned to call George Zimmerman to the witness stand to testify that he did what he had to do because he was in fear of his own life. And now George Zimmerman is a liar. A lying liar. And he will be cross-examined in excruciating detail about being a lying liar.
Not just a lying liar, but a lying liar to the court. On this case. For his own benefit. That he would lie to this court under oath in this case to save himself. A lying, lying liar.
And Mark O’Mara will now have to visit George Zimmerman in jail, where he won’t be able to use his valid passport or any money raised on the internet, just in case things didn’t look good. And the price of keeping that option open may be a not guilty verdict. Bummer.
Update: Reports now state that Zimmerman turned over his valid passport to his lawyer after his release on bond, so the judge accepted that it was not concealed for the purpose of misleading the court.
Along with conversations about their finances, prosecutors also told the Judge that Zimmerman was hiding a second passport from authorities that he acquired shortly after the Martin shooting and had stored in a safety deposit box.
But after his bond he did turn the second passport into his attorney who quickly notified the court. The judge agreed with his attorney, that the second passport, which was never used, was not being hid maliciously.
H/T Brian Cuban
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Although not completely apt (because Mr. Zimmerman is not a career criminal as such), James Lee Burke comes to mind: “Celebrity defense attorneys who appear regularly on CNN talk shows may lead glamorous lives, but the average practitioner of criminal law has a clientele with whom he does not want to be seen in public. These include grifters of every stripe, jackrollers, pimps, paperhangers, drug dealers, Murphy artists, cross-dressing prostitutes, court-assigned women who kill their children, and lifetime recidivists who are convinced they are criminal geniuses and try to outwit the system by lying to their attorneys.”
Here’s hoping that Mr. O’Mara got his fee paid up front. Expect another change of judge as well. Another attorney likewise. Doubt this case will ever go to trial.
Love the quote, but paperhangers? That’s a new one to me.
“paperhanger”: bad checks writers.
Ah! Brilliant.
Yeah, but, well, and get ready for the “lying is bad” comments, let’s talk about the real issue here: the state didn’t want him out on bond. Bond is bad. Bond doesn’t equate with “just take a plea and get me out of here.” Bond doesn’t put pressure on a defendant to go to trial quicker. When defendants are out on bond, they’re not in a real rush to get to the courthouse, and with time, witnesses’ stories start to change (although already that’s occurred in this case).
The issues for bond are ties to the community, flight risk, nature of charges. So let’s say Zimmerman lied about his assets. That’s contemptable. That’s why we have contempt statutes and perjury statutes.
Defendants lie all the time about their assets, but in most cases, we’re all too busy to care. In this case, from the moment he got out, the state wanted him back in. Motivation for the motion to revoke is irrelevant, but it’s there.
To use a phrase that may cause you consternation Greenfield, I have to ask: “you feel me?”
I have to respond: not if I can help it. But I thank you for your thought, Capt. Obvious. In the same vein, did it not dawn on anyone in the Zimmerman household that he would be subject to intense scrutiny, by the prosecutor, the judge, the media and pretty much everyone else? Of course they didn’t want him out. But Zimmerman didn’t have to make it so easy for them.
Makes me think of “busier than a one-armed paperhanger.” Now that saying has a whole new meaning.
Let me go look up “Murphy Artist…”
There’s this:
and this:
So I’m still not sure, because these two things sound very different to me.
[Ed. Note: No links per rules, Anne. Sorry.]
This smells of a prosecutor grasping at straws when he knows he’s got a loser of a case but is looking at a media-incited riot when he does lose.
I’m of two minds on the money, neither are in favor of the government. First, that money was donated to Zimmerman’s defense. Not living expenses, not bail, but to pay the attorney and legal costs. Use it for bail, and the prosecutor would be whining about illegal conversion or some other crime designed to discredit Zimmerman.
Second, given the way some jurisdictions are playing their own Spanish Prisoners con with bail money, I have to give Zimmerman and his wife the benefit of the doubt.
This event just underscores the knowledge that courts are inherently unfair to the defendants.
Actually, Zimmerman’s website had stated that the money would be used for defense and living expenses.