ORLANDO, Fla. - After skipping a routine court appearance on Wednesday, Mark O'mara told a Florida court on Thursday that George Zimmerman will seek to dismiss the second-degree murder charges against him in the shooting of 17 -year-old Travyon Martin.
According to O'mara, under the state of Florida's "stand your ground" law Zimmerman will look to have charges against him dismissed.
The "stand your ground" was established in the 1921 case of Brown v. U.S., in which Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes asserted the right to self-defense including the use of deadly force against an attacker under reasonable belief of threat without a duty to retreat. The argument is often used in cases like Zimmerman, who has always maintained the stance of self-defense in the fatal shooting of Martin on February 26 of this year.
A statement released on Zimmerman's official website states: "Most of the arguments, witnesses, experts and evidence that the defense would muster in a criminal trial will be presented in the 'stand your ground' hearing," as reported by the Associated Press
On Wednesday, mother of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin shot by Georgre Zimmerman, who is being charged with his murder, has filed a request for financial compensation from a Florida state fund for crime victims.
The news comes after the Associated Press discovered the request for compensation benefits was made by Sybrina Fulton, victim's mother, through state public records on Wednesday. The request was filed in March, shortly after her son was killed in February. In addition, Fulton filed a $75,000 suit against the gated-community in which her son was shot by the watch-guard.
Although the specific amount has not been disclosed, if the request is accepted, the Martin family can be reimbursed for lost wages, funeral and medical expenses.
But O'Mara tells the Orlando Sentinel that he might appeal the circuit court's decision last month to keep Judge Kenneth Lester on the case. Last month, Zimmerman's team filed a request to remove Judge Lester from the case citing that the judge was evidently biased against his client and therefore "departed from its role as an impartial, objective minister of justice," according to Good Morning America.
His lawyers filed a petition requesting a change of judge specifically after the judge's comments during Zimmerman's bond hearing in April telling the court that Zimmerman "flaunted the system," as reported by the Huffington Post.
In a statement O'Mara said, "Mr. Zimmerman has lost faith in the objectivity of this Court and has a reasonable, well-founded fear that he will not receive a fair trial by this Court," as reported by Huffington Post.
However, Judge Lester said that he would not step down from the case and that O'Mara's claims were "legally insufficient," (www.huffingtonpost.com).
Prosecutors Objected "to the defendant trying to disqualify Judge Lester," according to a statement released to ABC News.
In July, the Florida judge set Zimmerman's bail for $1 million, after previously revoking a $150,000 bond, for misleading the court about his finances.
He has been released from jail on bond, but under strict conditions including a round the clock GPS monitoring system.
According to Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney, the trial is likely to start in a year's time.
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