Predictions:  Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Lester will quit the case – The underlying biased witness #9 (Meza-Johnson) nonsense  was just the icing on the cake filled with bias.  Besides he is still taking judicial action even after a motion to recuse has been filed.    He is lining up his ducks, headed out, before he has to deal with a few issues stemming from his Fraternity Brother, Mark O’Mara.

Crazy Cousin Cristine issues will go nowhere:  They can’t, she’s not stable, and the entire thing is a joke on the media at this point.  Benjamin Crump swung for the fence he over promised #9 and waaaaaaaay  under delivered about a #2.    ***** Whiff *****  If he runs the bases on a strike-out he’ll look silly.  There is no “There” there….

Pic of the incident (based on the applicable journalistic standards displayed by NBC during the reporting of the story) credit

But the biggie is the exposure of Mark O’Mara to big legal issues.   As Ad rem has outlined, it  is looking more and more like O’Mara knew about the defense fund money prior to the bond hearing.   And, if push comes to shove, the potential exists for witnesses to be brought forth to give testimony under oath of prior conversations about that defense fund.   Who knew what, where, and most importantly, when?
From what can be unearthed and understood within the “Orlando Courthouse Club”, apparently there is somewhat of an unwritten rule in the profession about shaping money, or ignoring ‘found money’, until after indigent filing;   and it’s done on purpose.
EXAMPLE – Say you personally are broke, but you have a rich crazy uncle ready to pay your defense….  The attorneys will say, ignore the rich uncle fund, file indigent paperwork and the defense special witness testimony charges, usually around $600/hr, will be reimbursed for the first $400/hr by the state.  Leaving a cost to attorney/client of only $200/hr.   Almost like using taxpayer money as a defense subsidy of sorts.
That is $400 more per witness hour left in the crazy uncle fund when the trial is over and the attorney bills said crazy uncle fund.   Get it?   The pro-bono ain’t pro-bono, nudge, nudge, wink wink,…..
In a case like GZ there can be say $500k in the defense fund.   If the state is reimbursing for the first $400 of every hour, well that just leaves more in the fund at the end, which is written out to who?   Yep, the attorney, in this case, Mark O’Mara for his bill out.
The key is to watch and see if the friends of O’Mara duck for cover right now.  As the stories come out about his specific knowledge of that Zimmerman defense fund and the Pay Pal account, prior to the initial bond hearing an indigent claim.   The defense fund which is now under the control of an “independent accountant”.
But the independence is dependent.!
Dependent on Mark O’Mara selecting the Independent Accountant.
It’s going to come out because it has too, and because it is the Truth.  You simply cannot hide the Truth forever, without building a bigger and bigger lie.   Perhaps Mark Nejame got outta dodge because he knows Mark O’Mara knew about that fund, again the timeline:  The defense fund was set up on Saturday 4/7/12.  Monday April 9th Nejame/O’Mara  discussed the referral, and again on Tue April 10th.
Zimmerman was arrested on Wed April 11th the official first day of O’Mara representation.  As the Miami Herald is now reporting between the hiring date of the 11th and the bond hearing date of the 20th, O’Mara was told specifically about the defense fund on at least one occasion, recorded April 14th.
[My spidey senses tell me GZ mentioned it when he retained O’Mara.  Perhaps not the amount, after all he only had the account for his defense fund set up for around three days prior to arrest.   But more than likely the existence of it was discussed.   Only George actually knows that, and certainly I cannot prove or disprove that aspect.]

MIAMI HERALD – […]  In a phone call recorded April 14 between Zimmerman and a friend named Scott, the two discuss the new defense lawyer and the attorney’s vision for an upcoming bond hearing. Zimmerman tells his friend that he told his new attorney, Mark O’Mara, that he tried to transfer $37,000 from his online legal defense fund site, but could not complete the transaction because of PayPal rules that prevent transfers larger than $10,000.

He twice mentions telling O’Mara about the money.     

“He said he’s going to have me declared indigent,” Zimmerman told his friend. “I told him I didn’t think that would be possible, because there was one sizable transfer I tried to make. It got stopped. You know, $37. He said: ‘Well that doesn’t matter. Right now you’re not working. You’re not providing an income for your family. You’re probably not going to be employable for the rest of your life.’”

At one point the friend asks whether O’Mara knew “the volume” of the donations that came into the PayPal account Zimmerman had set up to solicit donations from the public. Zimmerman said O’Mara knew about the attempted transfer of $37,000, but not any more than that.  (read more)

Mark Nejame knew about the defense fund and discussed it on TV 4/9.  Mark Nejame and Mark O’Mara talked the case out 4/9 and 4/10.   George Zimmerman told him 4/14.   The bond hearing was not until 4/20.
So O’Mara had ten days from the time of retention to determine indigent filing status.  And according to the tapes he filed a full six days after Zimmerman told him of the “existence”, forget amounts for a moment, just knowledge of the accounts’ mere existence has been denied previously by O’Mara.   That cannot simply be considered plausible or truthful.
I’m sorry, because I do like Mr. Omara in both his personality and his legal approach in many ways.  But those financial disclosure forms and the indigent filing status is his responsibility alone to oversee as a lawyer.   George Zimmerman is not held to a standard of legal knowledge, or at least he shouldn’t be.  That’s simply Mark O’Mara’s job.
It was strategic.   Not malicious in intention, just strategic.   The filing of indigent status slows the burn rate down within the defense fund and provides the opportunity for more subsidized deferral of costs.
And generally it would have gone unnoticed were it not for he prosecution reviewing all those audio tapes looking for something, anything, to hang George Zimmerman out to dry on.   Mr. O’Mara was obviously not expecting that depth of discovery during incarceration.
It was not ineptitude that let O’Mara watch George Zimmerman’s credibility hang out there to flap in the breeze.    It was fear.
Fear brought on by a revelation of omission.  That omission was simply not the clients fault.  It appears he was following instruction of his attorney.