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Friday, May 10, 2013

Motion for Jury to inspect the SCENE

FIND THE ORIGINAL PDF FILE HERE

IN THE CIRCUT COURT OF THE
EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUT,  IN AND
FOR SEMINOLE COUNTY,  FLORIDA

STATE OF FLORIDA      CASE NO 2012-001083-CFA
--Plaintiff,

vs.

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN,
--Defendant
_____________________

MOTION TO ALLOW JURY TO INSPECT THE INCIDENT SCENE DURING TRIAL

COMES NOW, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN,  by and through his undersigned counsel,

persuant to florida Statue § 918.05,  and files this Motion to Allow

Jury to Inspect the Incident Scene During Trial,  which is located in

teh Retreat at Twin Lakes Subdivision in Sandford,  Florida, including

retreat View Circle,  Twin Trees Lane and Long Oak Way,  and as ground

therefore states as follows:

1.  the incident in this case,  which occurred on February 26, 2012, 

was located in the Retreat at Twin Lakes Subdivision,  including 

Retreat View Circle,  Twin Trees Lane,  and Long Oak Way.

The prelude to the insicent is documented by Mr. Zimmerman's

non-emercency call,  in which very specific locations are noted at

specifi time markers in the recorded phone call.  The incident itself

was documented by a witness' 911 call,  which recorded the final 42

seconds leading up to the gunshot and the gunshot itself,  which

allowed investigators to determine the exact time and place of the

incident.

Because so much is known about the specific timeline of the events

leading up to and including the incident,  and because so much is known

about the discreet geography of the scene of
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the incident,  details of witness testimony related to time and

location will receive extraordinary scrutiny by a jury,  perhaps down

to seconds and inches.

the facts of this case are very setting-specifi as to how the events of

that evening occured,  Specifically, there wre several witnessess who

are "ear witnesses",  in that they heard certain sounds, or voices, in

certain areas where the events unfolded.

There are also some witnesses who viewed certain parts of the event,

though there is no witness who vied the entire event.  All of the

wintesses, both "ear witnesses" and "eye witnesses",  have different

perspectives on the event which happened in a relatively discreet

geographical area,  and over a very discreet, and short, period of

time.

The specific qualities of each vantage point would have affected

witnesses' ability to hear and see the incident,  and a first hand

understanding of the qualities of each vantage point will help a jury

assess the reliability and weight of witness testimony.

2.  Each witness' perspective,  including their ability to hear and

their ability to see what they will be testify to would be best

explained to the jury with a view of the actual scene.  In this way, 

the jury can best decide how reliable each witness' testimony is, and

what weight to give the wintess; ability to see that which the witness

testifies to having seen. and to hear that which the
witness testifies to haviang heard.

3.   Persuant to Florida Statue § 918.05,  a view by the jury is

appropriate when a court determines that it is proper for the jury to

view a place where the event occurred.  The Court may then order that

the jury be brought,  as a whole,  to the location in the custody of a

proper officer.  As atated in § 918.05,  the Court shal admonish the

officer that no person,  including the officer,  shall be allowed to

communicate with the jury about any subject connected with the trial. 

Further, the Statute states that the judge and the defendant shall be

preent,  and that the prosecution attorney and defense counsel may be

present at the view.

4.   Defense counsel requests that they be available for the jury view,

and that they partake
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in the process necessary to properly secure the secen and to protect

the integrity of the jury during the view.

WHEREFORE,  the Defendant respectfully requests this Honorable Court to

allow the jury to inspect the incident scene during trial for the

reasons stated above.

Respectfully submitted this 9th day of May, 2013.

Signature Mark O'Mara Esquire
-----------------------------
Florida Bar No.  359701
O'Mara Law Group
1416 East Concord Street
Orlando,  Florida 32803
Telephone:  (407) 898-5151
Facsimlie:  (407) 898-2468
E-Mail:  Mark@markomaralaw.com
Co-Counsel for Defendant

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
-------------------------
 I HEREBY CERTIFY that a true and correct copy of the foregoing has

been furnished by Facsimilie/E-Mail this 9th day of May,  2013 to

Bernie de la Rionda, Assistant State Attorney and Florida 32202-3429, 

and to Donald R.  West,  Esquire,  636 West Yale Street,  Orlando, 

Florida 32804.

signature Mark M.  O'Mara
____________________________
MARK M. O'MARA,  ESQUIRE
 

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Keep it Civil. Ignoring the evidence will not be allowed!
Thank you.