Zimmerman prosecutor: O'Mara is a grandstander guilty of 'craven conduct'
Bernie de la Rionda says his office should not be sanctioned for hiding witness misstatement.
In a sarcastic, insult-laden pleading, the lead prosecutor in the George Zimmerman case on Thursday called defense attorney Mark O'Mara a "craven" duplicitous grandstander who "courts anything resembling a microphone or camera."
He also suggested that O'Mara was either unethical or does not know the meaning of one of the most common words in a defense attorney's vocabulary: exculpatory, an adjective used to describe a piece of evidence that tends to prove a suspect's innocence.
Bernie de la Rionda's pleading came three days after O'Mara asked Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to fine de la Rionda an unspecified amount, accusing him of hiding a key piece of information for seven months: the fact that his most important witness had lied under oath in April.
In his response today, de la Rionda admitted that he'd failed to disclose that until three weeks ago but said O'Mara hasn't shown any actual damage and thus, his office should be off the hook.
"No misconduct has occurred, nor should sanctions be rewarded to compensate counsel," de la Rionda wrote.
Important to note, de la Rionda wrote, is that the witness' misstatement has nothing to do with whether Zimmerman committed murder when he shot Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black 17-year-old, in Sanford last year.
Zimmerman is awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge. He says he acted in self-defense.
O'Mara's request for sanctions is just grandstanding, de la Rionda wrote, the act of a lawyer guilty of "craven conduct." O'Mara "courts anything resembling a microphone or camera," he wrote, and should understand the awkwardness of other people making misstatements.
De la Rionda also pointed out that O'Mara has made misstatements, including when he told a judge that Zimmerman and his wife were indigent.
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