Prosecutor's new filing: Zimmerman defense using social media for 'spin'Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
6:16 p.m. EDT, October 25, 2012
In support of his latest request for a gag order, the lead prosecutor in the George Zimmerman murder case filed paperwork today attacking a wide array of public statements made by the defense via traditional and social media.
Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda lists in his new court filing the Zimmerman defense team's website, their social media accounts and comments from interviews with local and national media. The comments made by defense attorney Mark O'Mara, de la Rionda argues, risk tainting the jury pool with the defense's "spin" on the evidence.
Through social media and blogging, O'Mara "is able to control and filter commentary about the case, in effect bypassing the regular media... and communicate the spin they want potential jurors to read about the case," de la Rionda writes.
The prosecutor's memorandum also mentions several traditional media appearances by Zimmerman or his defense lawyer, during which de la Rionda says O'Mara "has commented about the credibility of potential witnesses and possible evidence."
For example, de la Rionda cites an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, during which O’Mara was asked about Witness 9, a woman who told investigators that Zimmerman has racist tendencies and molested her when they were young.
O’Mara countered by questioning the Witness 9’s credibility and suggesting she may have made up the molestation claim, de la Rionda says.
The prosecutor also cites interviews with the Sentinel, in which O'Mara called a crime-scene drawing by a witness "one of the most significant pieces of evidence" and said Zimmerman's statements to law enforcement after he shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin were "all pretty consistent."
De la Rionda adds that he doesn't think all of O'Mara and Zimmerman's media statements have benefited the defense exclusively: Zimmerman's interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the prosecutor says, "was beneficial to the state."
"The State would ask that [O'Mara] be prohibited from talking to the media and attempt to explain or clarify 'what Defendant really' meant to say when he told Hannity that Trayvon Martin was 'skipping away' and it 'was all God's plan,'" de la Rionda writes, citing some of the more controversial comments Zimmerman made in the Hannity interview.
Prosecutors have since listed the Fox News interview as evidence in their case.
Concluding the memorandum, de la Rionda reiterates that the "case should be tried in the courtroom and not in the media," and asks the judge to bar attorneys in the case, their staff and law enforcement from making "any extrajudicial statements to the media" about the facts of the case, the evidence, the witnesses or "opinions about guilt or innocence."
Also listed in the state's memo: The latest blog post by Zimmerman's team, in which O'Mara asked supporters to send in links to "the most potentially questionable" statements the defense has made.
The post said the defense is "confident ALL our statements are easily defendable."
A hearing has been set on the motion for a gag order for Friday at 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Debra Nelson. The previous judge in the case rejected a prior such request by the state. In addition to the defense, lawyers for more than a dozen media outlets are expected to argue against the gag order at the hearing.
....more at linkhttp://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... ory?sdasda
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