George Zimmerman will seek a "Stand Your Ground" hearing. A statement on the website for Zimmerman's legal defense confirms that lead attorney Mark O'Mara is preparing for a hearing, which the website describes as a "mini-trial." In a "Stand Your Ground" hearing there is no jury. The judge alone will decide if the former neighborhood watch captain was in reasonable fear for his life when he fatally shot Martin February 26th.
"Now that the State has released the majority of their discovery, the defense asserts that there is clear support for a strong claim of self-defense. Consistent with this claim of self-defense, there will be a "Stand Your Ground" hearing," the statement on the GZLegalCase website read. Zimmerman maintains he shot Trayvon Martin after the 17-year-old attacked him. The "Stand Your Ground" law has become controversial in the wake of the Martin shooting, so controversial that lawyers for the Martin family released the following statement in response to the O'Mara announcement.
"Many of the legal architects of the Stand Your Ground law have already opined that it does not apply in this case," Benjamin Crump writes. "A grown man cannot profile and pursue an unarmed child, shoot him in the heart, and then claim stand your ground. We believe that the killer's motion will be denied during the Stand Your Ground Hearing, and as justice requires a jury will ultimately decide the fate of a man that killed an innocent child."
