(Photo by Gary Green/The Orlando Sentinel-Pool/Getty Images)
Reporting Jean Ross
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP/WAOK) — A three-judge panel in Florida has ruled that a former neighborhood watch leader charged in the fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin should be granted a new judge in his case.
Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that Judge Kenneth Lester should enter a motion to disqualify himself in George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder case. Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara asked the court earlier this month to overturn a previous ruling by Lester not to leave the case.
One of the three judges dissented in the ruling.
O’Mara had argued that Lester should disqualify himself after he said the judge made disparaging remarks about Zimmerman’s character and advocated for additional charges against him in setting his $1 million bond in July.
O’Mara had argued that Lester should disqualify himself after he said the judge made disparaging remarks about Zimmerman’s character and advocated for additional charges against him in setting his $1 million bond in July.
The judge had accused Zimmerman of having a “blatant disregard for the system” and manipulating the system for his own benefit when he did not disclose the amount of cash he had raised from a website for his defense.
There was no immediate response to the ruling from either Lester, prosecutors or Zimmerman’s attorneys.
Zimmerman remains free on bail. He’s pleaded not guilty to the shooting of Martin and maintains the teen was shot in self defense.
