ORLANDO, Fla. - Mark O'Mara, lawyer of George Zimmerman said he would not use "stand your ground" defense in the Travyon Martin murder case where Zimmerman is being charged with second-degree murder of the 17-year-old unarmed boy. Instead O'Mara said that he would use the State's self-defense law.
"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," he told the Huffington Post.
Also late Monday, O'Mara filed a petition of appeal to dismiss Judge Kenneth Lester from the case, stating that his views were bias and might jeopardize his client's fate. He filed the 40-page appeal at the Fifth District Court of Appeals Monday, but the ruling might take weeks.
After skipping a routine court appearance on last Wednesday, Mark O'mara told a Florida court on Thursday that George Zimmerman will seek to dismiss the second-degree murder charges against him.
Last week, the mother of 17-year-old Martin 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.
Zimmerman was arrested in February for the killing of the 17-year-old, Zimmerman who was armed shot Martin after claiming that he was attacked by the teenager and fired in an act of self-defense. 28-year-old Zimmerman has maintained the claim to self-defense from the beginning of the case.
