Zimmerman’s defense makes Trayvon Martin’s image an issue

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O’Mara was sharply critical of what he calls prosecution evidence releases that cast a negative light on his client. He spoke repeatedly of the release of a call to police by a woman known as “Witness 9,” a cousin who claimed Zimmerman sexually abused her when both were young children. And he says that implications that Zimmerman “is racist,” make character evidence relevant to his defense of his client.

“Why did they put out that George had mutual injunctions [against him] five years ago” with a former girlfriend. “Why does the [Martin] family put out a picture of Travyon at 12 years old in a football uniform? The problem with cases today particularly in Florida is that it really is wide open.”

O’Mara denied that his intent was to send a warning to prosecutors to stay away from character issues related to Zimmerman, who temporarily had his bail revoked for misstating his finances to the previous judge in the case (for which Zimmerman’s wife, Shelley, faces perjury charges.) And he denied that his intent was to taint the jury pool. But whether the information is ultimately excluded, it is now readily available to the public, both via media outlets, and on the defense website.

O’Mara repeatedly referred to what he believed was inflammatory, negative information about his client, released by prosecutors, and he blamed prosecutors for the flurry of negative images of both Martin and Zimmerman that have flooded into the public domain.

“The witness 9  stuff — that ‘s not going to be relevant,” O’Mara said. “But that gets disclosed. What gets into a courtroom, that’s what the judge has to decide, based on what comes up in the trial. Let’s say Sybrina Fulton gets on the stand and says ‘my son has never touched a gun and if he would have seen a gun he would have run?’ All of a sudden because of what she said the picture of a gun now has new relevance because it counteracts what the mother said.”

“We don’t have any pretrial agreement to say we’re not going to talk about this or that, so you have to be ready for what happens, not to mention the way the state has treated this case from the beginning.”

As to the perception that he’s tarnishing a dead teenager and encouraging the public to pore over the contents of his cellphone, O’Mara staunchly defended the releases as both legally required, and necessary for any lawyer zealously defending his client. And he put the burden back on prosecutors from keeping the now public information out of the hands of a jury.

“If the state makes Trayvon Martin’s history relevant then it’s relevant,” O’Mara said. “If they don’t then it’s not. I’m a warrior with a whole bunch of different weapons available to me. If you’re saying why don’t you put those nasty weapons away because the person passed away, I’m not going to do that. If the state does not make reputation relevant, then those things don’t come out of the quiver. But to say I shouldn’t prepare for the kind of case they try… Look, from day one I’ve been frustrated with the way they’ve handled discovery. And I’m hoping that’s not going to work its way into their trial presentation. [But] if they try to attack George and say he’s something he’s not, then I’m probably going to bring up similar information about Trayvon.”

Motions to delay, and to get the lawyers off TV

O’Mara has filed a motion seeking to delay the trial’s start date, saying he needs more time to review the qualification of voice experts who examined the 911 calls on the night of the shooting.

On Thursday, prosecutors filed a motion of their own, seeking a gag order in the case, citing O’Mara’s frequent television appearances discussing the case, and the fact that the attorney “continues to publicize the case through the use of a website, providing commentary and encouraging comments about the case through social media.” The motion by prosecutors, which O’Mara also posted to the defense website, states that “unless Defense Counsel stops talking to the media about the case, in person or by use of Defendant’s website, it will be more difficult to find jurors who have not been influenced by media accounts of the case.”

The motions will be heard on Tuesday.

Asked whether he believed the jury pool has been tainted, in part by his own actions, O’Mara told theGrio: “Yesterday, six months ago, the day after the shooting, this jury pool has been inundated with information that we have to vet through jury selection, to say ‘what have you heard, and can you put it aside.'”

Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport.