Judge: Zimmerman defense can't depose Trayvon Martin family attorney By Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
7:13 p.m. EST, February 22, 2013
SANFORD — The judge in the George Zimmerman murder case said Friday that defense attorneys may not grill Benjamin Crump, the high-profile, often-on-TV attorney who made the Trayvon Martin shooting into a national civil-rights issue.
Defense attorney Don West asked Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to let him depose Crump on a wide variety of issues, including Crump's contention that Sanford police and then-State Attorney Norm Wolfinger had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the teenager's death.
Crump alleged that then-Police Chief Bill Lee met with Wolfinger the night of Trayvon's death, Feb. 26, and the two agreed to release Zimmerman without an arrest.
Wolfinger says that meeting never happened.
Crump has also accused Sanford police of falsifying a report, something else that would be a crime.
Mug shots of the rich and infamous
"We have the right to investigate that and what evidence he has to support that seemingly outrageous statement," West said.
Crump was not at Friday's hearing, but his attorney, Bruce Blackwell, called defense attorneys' request "an absolute sideshow."
Crump was not at the scene of the killing, Blackwell said.
"He wasn't there. He doesn't know if a fight took place," he said.
Anything defense attorneys might learn from Crump, Blackwell said, "has nothing to do with what you're going to admit at trial."
Nelson agreed.
....more at linkhttp://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/loc ... 4478.story