The attorneys for George Zimmerman are again asking Circuit Judge Debra Nelson to reconsider a request to take Benjamin Crump's deposition. Crump is an attorney who interviewed a teenager who said she was on the phone with Trayvon Martin before he was shot by the neighborhood watchman according to the court filling made public on Monday, and reported by The Orlando Sentinel.
The circuit judge last month denied the motion from the Zimmerman team that would have allowed them to depose Crump, who interviewed the teen, who is known as "Witness 8."
New Evidence seeks to expose an "admission by prosecutors that the teen lied when she she said she had been so distraught over Martin's death that she was hospitalized and couldn't attend his funeral," the Associated Press reported.
"Now that Witness 8's credibility is at issue because of this contradictory and possibly perjurious testimony, deposing Mr. Crump is even more necessary and relevant for further determination of additional misrepresentation of lies, to document further bases for impeachment of Witness 8, and other necessary matters," the new motion said.
The teen is considered an important element of the proceedings, and a potential witness.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder of the unarmed Martin at a gated community in Sanford, an Orlando suburb on February 26, 2012. Prosecutors charged he profiled, then pursued and killed Martin. Zimmerman, and his team argued he acted only in self-defense, claiming Martin initially punched him, before resorting to shooting the 17-year-old to fend for his life.
The state has withheld the addresses of the witnesses as protection from public scrutiny, according to the AP.
Jury selection for the trial is scheduled to begin on June 10.
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