Sanford cops a problem for prosecutors in Zimmerman case, experts sayLead Sanford investigator Chris Serino hires famed Casey Anthony attorney Jose Baez to represent him in prosecution of Trayvon Martin shooter.By Jeff Weiner and Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel
7:01 p.m. EST, November 30, 2012
It was a strange development in a case that has seen more than its share: Chris Serino, the lead Sanford police investigator in the Trayvon Martin shooting, hired famed Casey Anthony defense attorney Jose Baez to represent him at his upcoming deposition in the case.
It's unclear what prompted Serino to hire a private attorney — eschewing available representation by the city of Sanford, his employer. But one issue likely to come up is his double-talk on whether there was enough evidence to support George Zimmerman's arrest as controversy surrounding the case spiraled out of control last spring.
Serino wrote in a sworn affidavit that there was probable cause to arrest Zimmerman. But he later told the Federal Bureau of Investigation he was pressured to author that document and didn't believe the evidence was sufficient for the manslaughter charge he recommended.
"Nobody put a gun to his head," says Michael Grieco, a Miami defense lawyer and former prosecutor. "When you sign an affidavit, you swear under oath."
And Serino isn't the only Sanford officer whose testimony could prove troublesome for prosecutors in the second-degree murder case against Zimmerman: High-ranking fellow officers largely agreed in March that there was not sufficient evidence to arrest Zimmerman.
Zimmerman's legal team has since listed several of them, including former Sanford police Chief Bill Lee Jr. and Serino's supervisors, as witnesses the defense plans to call at trial.
Baez was not available to comment for this story. But in a recent interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Baez said that Serino hired him because "it's a very politically charged case, and he just wants to make sure that everything is done by the book." Special Prosecutor Angela Corey's office — which Gov. Rick Scott appointed to handle the case — also did not respond to requests for comment.
Eugene O'Donnell, a former police officer and prosecutor who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said Serino's decision to hire his own lawyer "is very wise."
"The evidence in this case is going to be gone over by the finest of fine-toothed combs," he said. "If you look at the innards of most homicide investigations, there are a tremendous number of I's that aren't dotted and T's that are not crossed."
'We did not have enough'For weeks, as the unarmed Miami Gardens teen's Feb. 26 shooting by the Neighborhood Watch volunteer became an international controversy, Sanford police insisted they were conducting a by-the-book investigation.
On March 12, Lee said at a press conference that his agency could not arrest Zimmerman because investigators had failed to establish probable cause.
Four days later, Lee and several officers, including Serino, went over details of their investigation in an exclusive interview with the Sentinel, and again insisted they didn't have enough evidence to disprove Zimmerman's self-defense claim.
"We did not have enough for an arrest warrant," Serino said at that time.
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