Shellie Zimmerman's Perjury Case

[DiwataMan]

Wanted to mention this as well. Wolfinger retired on Jan 7, 2013.

“Mr. Phil Archer was elected in 2012 and took office for his first term on January 8, 2013. Mr. Archer, a life-long resident of Brevard County, had already dedicated 28 years to protecting the citizens of Brevard and Seminole counties in his position as an Assistant State Attorney in the 18th Judicial Circuit.”
http://www.sa18.state.fl.us/page/history.html

April 20, 2012
"State Attorney Norman R. Wolfinger announced today that he would not be seeking re-election..."
http://www.sa18.state.fl.us/press/id/318

[unitron]

You're an intelligent person. When you allude to a 'widespread belief', I thought I could discuss the logic of that belief without having to make a point of saying that I wasn't ascribing it to you.

Do you think that, of the people who believe that Wolfinger has an improper motive for being reluctant to prosecute Zimmerman, the great majority also think they know what that motive is, and agree among themselves on what it is? That has not been my impression.

A belief doesn't actually need any logic behind it to be widespread, unfortunately.

[AJ]

Read over the thread and I don't remember seeing these posted, so here you are if you haven't seen them yet:

Hearing (Shellie is in attendance):
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videogallery/74487272/Shellie-Zimmerman-Perjury

Post-Hearing Interview of Kelly Sims:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/videogallery/74487178/Shellie-Zimmerman-s-attorney-speaks-out-about-perjury-case

[DebFrmHell]

Wanted to mention this as well. Wolfinger retired on Jan 7, 2013.

“Mr. Phil Archer was elected in 2012 and took office for his first term on January 8, 2013. Mr. Archer, a life-long resident of Brevard County, had already dedicated 28 years to protecting the citizens of Brevard and Seminole counties in his position as an Assistant State Attorney in the 18th Judicial Circuit.”
http://www.sa18.state.fl.us/page/history.html

April 20, 2012
"State Attorney Norman R. Wolfinger announced today that he would not be seeking re-election..."
http://www.sa18.state.fl.us/press/id/318

IMO, we should have a Wolfinger thread.  Would you put it in Court Matters, Police Investigations, Witness, or Evidence?  LOL on all the options.  I wonder why no one has ever interviewed him since Serino dropped his Capias with his office.

[nomatter_nevermind]

Is this a "Shellie Zimmerman's Perjury Case" or a Wolfinger thread?

We were discussing why people might think Wolfinger isn't the person to prosecute the perjury case, or decide if it should be prosecuted.

If you want to discuss Wolfinger in general, I suggest a new thread.

ETA: I think it would go under Police Investigation.

[MJW]

The Statement of Particulars has now been filed in Shellie's case. Unfortunately, I don't know of a link to it.

[Cylinder]

Court delays perjury trial

The attorney for George Zimmerman’s wife was back in court Wednesday.
 
However, Shellie Zimmerman’s case will not head to trial until after George’s second-degree murder trial.
 
Shellie waived her right to appear in court. She did show up in court back in February when her attorney, Kelly Sims, tried to get her perjury charge dropped. But the judge refused to dismiss the case.
 
A state attorney charged Shellie with perjury after accusing her of lying about how much money the couple had, during a bond hearing for George in 2012.

[MJW]

I noticed the detailed court information had April 16 entries for the stuff related to the motion to dismiss or petition for quo warranto. I wonder if the defense asked for reconsideration, and it was again rejected. The defense has 30 days to appeal a ruling to the DCA, so I thought they'd missed the chance. If they asked for reconsideration, then they can still appeal.

As I've said previously, I think any victory could be overcome by the governor amending the EO. On the other hand, as far as I can tell, the governor doesn't have the constitutional power to arbitrarily appoint special prosecutors. He has to have a good reason. Even though the reason for appointing a special prosecutor for George was somewhat ill-defied, the reason for appointing a special prosecutor for Shellie seems almost non-existent. Perhaps if the governor issued an EO to cover Shellie's case, it could be challenged as exceeding his constitutional authority.

[MJW]

Looking again at the detailed case information, I think the somewhat confusing entry is:

04/16/2013    MOTN    MOTION TO DISMISS OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE PETITION FOR WRIT OF OUO WARRANTO RE: EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 12-279

That seems like it's probably the original motion, revised to take into account the new EO.

I sure wish the motions were available to read.

[MJW]

On the other hand, as far as I can tell, the governor doesn't have the constitutional power to arbitrarily appoint special prosecutors. He has to have a good reason.

Sadly, Florida law does not seem to agree. On another thread, cboldt cites Finch v. Fitzpatrick, 254 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 1971), which seems to suggest the standard is "trust and don't verify" the governor's assertion that he has good reason to appoint a special prosecutor.