President Obama is speaking now.

It looks like he's reading from a statement but he's not reading all of it.

We're going to have come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this regardless of the politics.

Short statement. He was emotional and seemed angry to me when he walked off. It seemed to me he didn't like some of his prepared remarks. He was perusing them but not saying anything for seconds at a time.

A hearing in the George Zimmerman case starts today at 9:00 am ET. You can watch online at CNNLive, WOFL-Channel 35, WESH-Channel 2, WKMG-Channel 6 and WFTV-Channel 9, and clickorlando.com.

The list of motions to be heard is here.

The motions, responses and replies are here and here

I think the most interesting part will be the battle over the tape of the call between the Martin family lawyers and Witness 8, aka Dee Dee.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Sofitel Hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo have settled their civil suits against each other for an undisclosed amount. She sued him for the hotel room encounter, he counter-sued her for defamation.

Also settled: Diallo's defamation suit against the New York Post which had reported she was a prostitute.[More...]

George Zimmerman has filed his defamation lawsuit against NBC and three reporters for their false editing of his non-emergency call to police to report Trayvon Martin. The reporters are Ron Allen, Lilia Lucianno and Jeff Burnside. Luciano and Burnside were since fired. The complaint is here and a website for the case is here.

On Thursday, December 6, 2012, George Zimmerman filed a legal complaint against NBCUniversal Media, LLC and three individuals who were employed by NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Inc. during the time relevant to the complaint: Ron Allen, Lilia Rodriguez Luciano, and Jeff Burnside. The 24-page complaint alleges “NBC News saw the death of Trayvon Martin not as a tragedy but as an opportunity to increase ratings, and so set about to create the myth that George Zimmerman was a racist and predatory villain.” The complaint, filed in Seminole County, demands a trial by jury, and demands damages sufficient to invoke the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court.

The complaint was filed in the Seminole County Circuit Court. His lawyers are Mark O'Mara and The Beasley Law Firm in Philadelphia. [More...]

Kim Dotcom is still on track to having a Merry Christmas. New Zealand High Court Judge J Winkelmann today ruled Kim Dotcom can add the Attorney General, in his capacity as representative of the NZ Government Communications Security Bureau, to his claim for monetary damages resulting from the the illegal search of his mansion and over-the-top commando style raid to effectuate his arrest. She also ruled in his favor on several discovery requests pertaining to the FBI's involvement in the case and NZ's illegal interception of his communications. You can access the opinion here.

To put it in context, the Judge writes: [More..]

The State's Attorney's Office today published non-protected material contained in the 9th Supplemental Discovery Release. It consists of additional FBI reports and interviews, some photographs, one recorded interview and some FDLE reports (short summaries of actions taken.) Zimmerman's attorneys have made some of the FBI reports available here.

What I found most interesting were three FDLE reports on for April 2, 2012, the day the state interviewed Witness #8, aka Trayvon's phone friend "Dee Dee." (background here.)[More...]

This is the photo Sanford Police Officer Mike Wagner took of George Zimmerman sitting in the patrol car the night Trayvon Martin was shot.
The state finally turned it over to the defense. Previously, it sent them a black and white xerox of the photo. The defense had to file motions and argue in court for the production of the original photo. [More...]

Good news for 23 year old Richard O'Dwyer, who is charged with copyright infringement in the U.S. and had been ordered extradited from the UK to face charges. D.O.J. has offered him a "deferred prosecution" agreement, under which he agrees to come to the U.S. voluntarily to enter the agreement and pay a fine, and promises not to violate U.S. copyright laws in the future. He will then return home to the U.K. When the UK court receives the agreement, it will dismiss the extradition proceedings. Assuming he complies, eventually, the charges will be dropped with no plea of guilty required.

Is this how Kim Dotcom's case will end?

A source close to Dotcom said his legal team was studying it closely as it showed US authorities could be softening their previously hard-line approach. [More...]

George Zimmerman today announced a change in his legal defense fund. The fund will be transferred to an independent manager of George's choosing and be hosted on a website that is not affiliated with his legal team. The new website is up and running here. The site says the monies will go (in order) to: George's living expenses, costs of litigation, and if any remains, to legal fees. Neither Mark O'Mara or Don West have been paid any fees to date.

The announcement is not on the George Zimmerman legal case website maintained by Mark O'Mara. He merely tweeted a link to it.

The new site says the change is at George's request and more active solicitation of funds is likely. My translation: O'Mara was fine with accepting donations, but as a lawyer, actively soliciting funds can be dicey. By removing the fund from his lawyer's trust account and control, George can avoid many of the restrictions contained in the rules of professional responsibility applicable to lawyers, particularly as to what can be said about his case publicly. [More...]

Two weeks ago, the U.S. denied Russia's request to return Viktor Bout to Russia under the 1983 Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The full letter of denial is here. DOJ's reasons:

"The United States denied the transfer application because the prisoner has a pending appeal, because of the seriousness of the offense, because of serious law enforcement concerns and because the prisoner is a poor candidate due to his criminal history."

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said it won't give up. It believes Bout's extradition from Thailand to the U.S. and his prosecution were politically motivated. [More...]

A criminal probe of Fedex and UPS has been ongoing over shipments of drugs purchased illegally from online pharmacies. The investigation is in the Northern District of California (San Francisco.) UPS appears to be cooperating while Fedex is not. Both companies revealed the probe in their latest quarterly registration statements. UPS said:

We have received requests for information from the DOJ in the Northern District of California in connection with a criminal investigation relating to the transportation of packages for online pharmacies that may have shipped pharmaceuticals in violation of federal law," the company stated. UPS said it was cooperating with the investigation and is "exploring the possibility of resolving this matter."

Fedex says: ""Settlement is not an option when there is no illegal activity." [More...]

Jose Baez is angry over the state prosecutor's statement during last week's arguments on the state's second motion for a gag order that he believed Casey Anthony's defense attorney was reprimanded for inappropriate media comments. Never happened, according to this letter from Baez, posted today on the Court's Zimmerman case website.

It has come to my attention that some misrepresentations were made in your court on Friday, October 26,2012. As an officer of the court I feel obligated to bring them to your attention immediately. During oral arguments in the case of State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman, Assistant State attorney Bernie de la Rionda stated that he believed that I had been held in contempt by Judge Perry in the State of Florida vs. Casey Anthony, presumably for violating some rule or order relating to violating the rules of professional conduct involving statements to the media.

[More....]