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As I predicted late last week after I found out that the court file in the George Zimmerman case was sealed at the request of the defense, various news organizations in Florida, including the AP and the Miami Herald, filed a motion today in the Seminole County Circuit Court to unseal the file. The file contains a full set of police investigation reports, the autopsy report, and transcriptions of witness statements.
The reports were in the file because they become public information after a case has been filed, unless sealing the file is necessary to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial and there are no other alternatives that will accomplish the same objective. Pursuant to Press-Enterprise Co. vs. Superior Court of California, 464 U.S. 501, 510 (1984), must identify and articulate an overriding interest based on findings that a seal is essential to preserve higher values and is narrowly tailored to serve that interest.
The news organizations contend that the court did not follow the proper procedure and its blanket order is too broad to meet the “narrowly tailored” requirement.
This matter has not been scheduled for a hearing because defense counsel has filed a motion to recuse the judge to whom the Zimmerman case has been assigned.
Mark Schneider at the Huffington Post describes the situation this way,
Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler last week revealed the potential conflict in the case that relates to her husband, who works with Orlando attorney Mark NeJame.
NeJame was first approached by Zimmerman’s family to represent the neighborhood watch volunteer. But the attorney, who also is serving as a CNN legal analyst in the case, declined and referred them to O’Mara.
“What I don’t want to happen is to wait a month or two, and then we find out that what we thought is a potential conflict is an actual conflict,” O’Mara told reporters outside the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center.
Having been in Mark O’Mara’s (Zimmerman’s lawyer) situation several times, including the Green River Killer serial murder case, I know he is concerned about the effect that some of the information in the court file might have on Zimmerman’s right to be tried by a fair and impartial jury, if that information becomes public before the trial.
As an onlooker, for reasons that I have previously expressed, I am most interested in the autopsy report, forensic reports on blood spatter, the gun, and the 911 tapes.
O’Mara’s concern is legitimate, given the firestorm of publicity about this case already. It will be interesting to see how the judge who eventually decides the motion splits the baby between Zimmerman’s right to a fair trial and the public’s right to know that is protected by the First Amendment.
A hearing on the request to unseal the file cannot be scheduled for a hearing until the motion to recuse is decided.
Cross posted from my law blog.
6 Comments
good interesting info, thanks for your expertise and posting the issues, keep us informed
Thanks, perris. Will do.
I think Mark O’Mara’s effort to shut down the raging storm about the case by sealing the court file was an excellent move and truly in his client’s best interests.
Notice how his strategy differs from the self-promoting strategies used by Zimmerman’s previous lawyers and by John Henry Browne, who represents Sergeant Bales.
A lawyer who seeks to promote himself at the expense of his client in a media intensive case is not only a bad lawyer, he’s a lawyer who is blind to ethical lapses bordering on sociopathic behavior.
Since Judge Recksiedler revealed the potential conflict of interest to Angela Corey and Mark O’Mara, I suspect she will grant O’Mara’s motion to recuse.
Assuming she does, the Seminole County Clerk’s Office will reassign the case to another judge and that judge will take up the pending defense motion to release Zimmerman pending trial and the motion filed by the Miami Herald and other news organizations to unseal the court file.
Don’t know. The only thing it’s accomplished so far is a suit demanding that they release the data that has a pretty good chance of mostly succeeding. And additional publicity.
I think the Rodney King case is a good example. By the time the jury saw the video offically, they had already seen it so many times that they’d become a bit immune to the brutality. They lawyer played it so often in increments that the impact was lost.
I’d rather the info get out early and be forgotten. It’s not going to pollute the jury pool any more than it already is.
Boxturtle (The above position and my lack of a J.D. may be why I’m not a defense lawyer)
Yes and no.
At the time he entered the case, the charge had just been filed and the news organizations had not had an opportunity to copy and review the materials. O’Mara conceded at the time he made the request that the file would only be sealed for a temporary period of time.
Now that it has been sealed for several days and he has had an opportunity to review all of the materials, he is in a much better position to specify what documents, if any, should be sealed and what information should be redacted to satisfy the “narrowly tailored” requirement.
Had the file not been sealed before he had an opportunity to review the materials, the news organizations would have possession of all of them and the horses would have escaped from the barn, so to speak.
He has more control over the situation now than he would have otherwise had and that is why I think it was a smart move.
I would have done the same thing in his situation.