No Judge Is Good Enough for George Zimmerman
Attorneys for George Zimmerman have requested a new judge in his trial for shooting Trayvon Martin, alleging current judge Kenneth Lester Jr. is biased and they can no longer get a fair trial.
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The Orlando Sentinel reports Zimmerman's legal team filed a motion Friday to have Lester removed from Zimmerman's trial, arguing that in the order Lester wrote to raise Zimmerman's bail to $1 million he showed significant bias against Zimmerman. Zimmerman's lawyers say the order "makes gratuitous, disparaging remarks about Zimmerman's character," and has "created a reasonable fear in Mr. Zimmerman that this court is biased against him." Lester accused Zimmerman of attempting to game the legal system in his order. "By any definition, the defendant has flaunted the system," Lester wrote. "It appears to this court that the defendant is manipulating the system for his own benefit." The first judge assigned to Zimmerman's case, Jessica Recksiedler, recused herself from the case over conflicts of interest.
RELATED: George Zimmerman Will Have to Make Do With the Judge He's Got
The Sentinel is also reporting a new trove of information will be released in relation to the Trayvon Martin case, including 145 calls Zimmerman made from Seminole county jail, and statements from a witness alleged to be a Zimmerman family friend who says he doesn't like black people. Zimmerman's attorneys attempted to block the release of the statement and 145 of 151 phone calls Zimmerman made from jail, but the judge denied their request.
RELATED: George Zimmerman to Be Freed on New, Much Larger Bail
Zimmerman is currently free on bail and living in a safe house in Seminole county, Florida. His wife is facing perjury charges stemming from phone calls the two made when he was in jail that showed they were concealing how much money they had available to them.
