A seemingly irritated Circuit Court Judge Debra Nelson suspended on Thursday, the motion brought by George Zimmerman’s attorneys to sanction the prosecution for withholding discovery information, until the end of the trial.
Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s defense attorney has claimed that the state failed to share at least three photographs and deleted text messages found on Trayvon Martin’s cell phone. According to O’Mara, they came to light only when the defense hired an expert and retrieved them.
Don West, Zimmerman’s defense co-counsel charged from the stand, “We caught you [prosecution] hiding information and we brought someone here to prove it.”
But Assistant State Attorney Bernie De La Rionda said, the defense team has had the source file from which the pictures and deleted text messages in question were retrieved, since late February 2013.
De La Rionda also charged that it is defense team who has been delinquent in forwarding discovery information to the state in a timely manner.
After nearly a day of testimony from witnesses in the pre-trial proceedings, Nelson said given that the defense is seeking monetary sanctions, the motion will be taken up post-trial.
“The court’s time is better used at this juncture going forward with the Frye hearing,” Nelson said.
The trial of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Travyon Martin is expected to get underway on June 10th.
