Tag Archives: Stand Your Ground

Despite plans hinted at last year to the contrary, George Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’Mara said in court on Apr. 30 that the defense would not be seeking a self-defense hearing before Zimmerman’s trial. O’Mara says it’s not a change in course, but more an “evolution” of the defense strategy.   Buying More Time Florida in 2005 waived the duty to retreat a defendant would normally have had under traditional self-defense. Thus, in Florida, if you believe you are in danger …

A study released recently by Texas A&M University economists found no decrease in crime in states that passed stand your ground laws, but rather a measurable increase in homicides. Stand your ground laws, also known as expanded castle doctrine, vary by state but typically give the right to a person who feels threatened to shoot or otherwise attack a potential assailant, without having a lawful duty to first try to retreat. Proponents of the laws say they give upstanding citizens …

George Zimmerman’s lawyer has said he is considering suing NBC for libel over the network’s editing of the 911 call Zimmerman made on the night he killed Trayvon Martin. But legal experts say the case would be a long shot. “NBC intentionally edited George Zimmerman’s non-emergency call to make it appear he is a racist, then they repeatedly broadcast that edited tape to the nation,” Mark O’Mara told TheWrap, a Hollywood news source, on Oct. 4. “What NBC did is …

Taking his client’s much-discussed right to bear arms on the road, George Zimmerman’s defense lawyer was a featured speaker at the 27th Annual Gun Rights Policy Conference in Orlando on Sept. 29. Attorney Mark M. O’Mara tried to walk a fine line: He admitted that if he hadn’t been representing the defendant in one of the most talked-about trials in recent memory, he would not have been invited to speak at the conference, according to WFTV. But he also refused to …

One of George Zimmerman’s confidantes, Mark Osterman, has published a book about the man accused in the murder of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen who Zimmerman shot and killed after a confrontation in Zimmerman’s neighborhood. In keeping with the circus-like atmosphere that has grown up around the case, Osterman (along with his wife Sondra) has written a book that flies in the face not only of recently released state evidence in the case, but also of Zimmerman’s account of the …