Friday, Aug. 17, 11:08 p.m. EDT Lawyer: Zimmerman is nearly broke and wants public to pay legal costs: George Zimmerman, whose second-degree-murder case inspired supporter to donate more than a collective $250,000, is now nearly broke, his lawyer said this week, explaining why he wants the public to pay for the defense. Attorney Mark O'Mara told the Orlando Sentinel that Zimmerman and his wife, Shellie, are out of work and spending a great deal of money on security. "Seminole County is unquestionably the most dangerous county, most expensive county for him to be in," he said. He plans to ask the court to declare Zimmerman indigent.
Thursday, Aug. 16, 10:16 a.m. EDT: Chris Rock says Trayvon case is no joke: Asked in the August issue of Details whether it's too soon to make jokes about the unarmed teenager's death, the comedian responded, "There's no joke there, unfortunately. It's sad. When you get old, it's like, 'Damn it, I've seen this.' I'm from Bed-Stuy. I marched for Yusuf Hawkins, you know? I don't totally agree with Bill Cosby. He said it wasn't racial, it's a gun issue. Well, it's a gun-racial issue."
Wednesday, Aug. 15, 10:44 a.m. EDT: Zimmerman team still trying to remove judge: Lawyers for George Zimmerman said Monday that they are appealing Seminole County Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester's decision not to step aside in the case, WPTV reports. In an Aug. 1 order, Lester said that defense lawyers' July request that he recuse himself was "legally insufficient." But Mark O'Mara and his team have now appealed that decision, filing a petition for writ of prohibition asking Florida's 5th District Court of Appeal to try to remove him from the case.
Tuesday, Aug. 14, 10:28 a.m. EDT: Zimmerman's attorney plans to use a traditional self-defense argument: "The facts don't seem to support a 'Stand your ground' defense," attorney Mark O'Mara told the Associated Press. According to O'Mara, looking at the case through traditional self-defense circumstances is appropriate because the facts suggest his client couldn't retreat from a beating he said he was receiving from Trayvon Martin. "I think the facts seem to support that though we have a 'Stand your ground' immunity hearing, what this really is is a simple self-defense immunity hearing," the defense attorney said.
Monday, Aug. 13, 10:33 a.m. EDT: Is "Stand your ground" a "risky proposition"? Last week George Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, announced that his client will seek to escape prosecution through a "Stand your ground" hearing centered on the Florida law that allows a person to use deadly force if "he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself." The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart calls this strategy a "risky proposition for a man who claimed self-defense after killing an unarmed 17-year-old and who lied to the presiding judge."
Read last week's updates on the Trayvon Martin case here.
Read all of The Root's news and commentary about the Trayvon Martin case here.