ORLANDO, Fla. — The Florida judge presiding over the Trayvon Martin shooting case removed herself Wednesday after the attorney for defendant George Zimmerman argued she had a possible conflict of interest relating to her husband.
Judge Kenneth M. Lester Jr. will preside over the case, including the Friday bail hearing for the neighborhood watch volunteer, according to a news release from the court.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for the Feb. 26 shooting of the unarmed Martin, 17. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense after the teen attacked him. Martin’s family and supporters claim Zimmerman was the aggressor, targeting Martin for suspicion mainly because he was black. Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother Hispanic.
Florida Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler had said she would make a decision by Friday, when the hearing had been set. Her husband works with Orlando attorney Mark NeJame, who was first approached by Zimmerman’s family to represent the neighborhood watch volunteer.
But NeJame declined and referred them to Mark O’Mara, who is now representing Zimmerman. NeJame has since been hired by CNN to comment on the case.
Galluzzo said he had a conflict because of his personal and business relationship with O’Mara.
O’Mara said he requested that Recksiedler step down now because the case is just beginning and he wanted any possible conflict to be addressed right away rather than in the middle of the case. Recksiedler was assigned the case after Zimmerman’s arrest last week.
Lester, 58, was first elected to the bench in 1996. The Chicago native grew up in central Florida and graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in 1980, a year behind the special prosecutor in the case, Angela Corey.
He is a Vietnam combat veteran and is married to longtime Orlando prosecutor Dorothy Sedgwick, who works in a neighboring jurisdiction.
A spokeswoman for Corey didn’t immediately return an email and phone call asking if they knew each other.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: AP
April 20, 2012 at 4:12 pm
Zimmerman’s bail was set at just $150,000 by the new presiding judge, he will be out of jail soon. Such a shame that his bail was set so low. Talk about a slap in the face. This means if Zimmerman puts up just $15,000 (and he most certainly will) then he is out free to walk the streets and Trayvon will walk anywhere because the child is dead and he death was caused by Zimmerman directly.
I don’t buy Zimmerman’s insincere apology by any means at all. If Zimmerman really wanted to apologize and was remorseful at all, then he would have apologized long before today, or even on his website instead of when he can pull off this stunt in order to get out of jail pending trial.
People commit robberies and have bail set at $150,000. I’m not sure if Zimmerman is a flight risk or not but he has committed violent acts in the past against a law enforcement office and was arrest for domestic violence, furthermore that bail amount is very low for someone accused of second degree murder.
We have to accept the court’s ruling for bail right now but the problem is it that Zimmerman can testify before the court that he is sorry (in his attempt to invoke public sympathy) without any evidence being put on trial even at the pre-trial bail hearing.
Trayvon’s father wept in the courtroom during Zimmerman’s fake apology and the father had to leave due to dealing with the pain inflicted by Zimmerman on the family and on their child (literally shooting the kid with a bullet to the heart) and dealing with Trayvon’s subsequent death. He was 17 years old. Not even an adult. He will never vote. Trayvon will never get to attend prom, or attend college, or have children of his own. Zimmerman took this away from Trayvon when Zimmerman played judge, jury and executioner that night he shot and killed Trayvon viciously.
We need justice for Travyon and his family, not a trial that will make a mockery of justice.