Defense Attorneys May Question Trayvon's Family Lawyer
The Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled Monday that George Zimmerman's attorneys may now question Travyon Martin's family lawyer, Benjamin Crump, about a key witness in the upcoming second-degree murder trial.
The witness is a young Miami woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin before he was shot. On March 19, 2012, Crump interviewed her and made an audio recording while in the same room with employees of ABC News.
Defense attorneys made two requests to Judge Debra Nelson to question Crump under oath, but she denied them both, citing that he was protected by a work product privilege. They then filed an appeal to reverse her decision.
The appeals court wrote that because Crump had press in the room during his interview with the witness, he waived his right to his work product privilege.
Orlando Sentinel reports:
It also ruled that Crump deserves no protection, despite his claim of being opposing counsel, because he’s not. In this case he’d have to be a prosecutor to qualify.
Defense attorneys obtained a copy of the recording Crump made, but the appeals court described it as “incomplete and of very poor quality.”
It ruled that Zimmerman’s attorneys may question Crump but only on a very narrow set of things. They may ask him about the contents of the interview and about the circumstances surrounding it.
They may not, however, ask why he tracked her down or what methods he used to do that.
In a statement, Crump said “I am available to be deposed, and the trial should not be delayed in any possible way ....”
Read full story here.
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(Photo: REUTERS/Jason Reed)