The State's Attorney yesterday filed its 5th Supplemental Discovery notice, stating that pursuant to an earlier court order, it was releasing the names of five witnesses whose statements had previously been provided in redacted form. These are witnesses who appeared in the media and identified themselves. They include Brandy Green, Mary Cutcher and her roommate Selma Mora, Cheryl Brown and her son Austin McClendon, and Cynthia Wibker, former Homeowner Association Treasurer.

Today the state re-released 30 pages of witness statements with the witnesses names filled in. I have uploaded them here. Other witnesses are identified besides the 5 named above.

I think the state misidentified Cutcher and Mora's house number. The notice says it is 2031 Retreat View Circle instead of 2831 Retreat View Circle. 2031 RVC isn't in the first block of houses that back up to the shared path between houses where Trayvon Martin's body was found. I assume it's a typo. (Added: Or else they have moved, but the only address relevant to the case is the one they lived at on 2/26 and that is 2831 Retreat View Circle.)

I think the state should also have released the names of Chad, who has been interviewed with his mother Brandy Green on Fox News, and Witness 18, the "Teacher," who made numerous TV appearances with her attorney. Even though the Teacher didn't use her name, she told her story on TV and the Court's disclosure order isn't limited to those who used their real name.

Kim DotCom's new video, Mr. President, is out.

What about free speech, Mr. President
What happened to change, Mr. President?
...Are you pleading the 5th Mr. President?
Are you going to fix this Mr President?

It's got cool photos of Anomymous members, the Megaupload defendants in jail, happy people singing in the streets, a catchy tune and good direction and sounds, undoubtedly by Printz Board, the musical director for the Black Eyed Peas, who worked on the MegaUpload song.

I've listened to it 5 times already, and it gets better each time. [More...]

NCAA hands down severe sanctions to Penn State as a consequence of Sandusky Scandal:

The N.C.A.A. announced significant penalties against Penn State and its football program Monday, including a $60 million fine and a four-year postseason ban, in the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal involving the former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. [...] The punishment also included the loss of 10 scholarships per year for the next four years, with a limit of 65 total scholarship players on the roster, as opposed to the typical 85, by the 2014 season. The university must also vacate all of its victories from 1998 to 2011, meaning that Joe Paterno is no longer the major-college career leader in football wins.

Penn State has consented to the penalty. In addition, current Penn State players can transfer to other schools and play immediately (usually, they would have to wait a year before participating.) Current players can also opt to no longer lay football and retain their scholarships (presumably these would not count against Penn State's scholarship numbers.

I think commentary that Penn State will be crippled for a decade as a result of these sanctions is accurate. There is strong irony in that the late Joe Paterno built the Penn State program and then tore it down by his strongarming of a coverup by the university. Penn State is still under the cloud of the Clery Act, under which Penn State could be liable for up to 27,500 per incident and loss of federal funding (which is around $660 million.) More . . .

Thanks to Big Tent Democrat for putting up a thread on George Zimmerman's interview on Sean Hannity's show tonight. I just got back to Denver and am watching now. (I missed the beginning.)

I listened to his jail calls for all 7 hours of the drive back from Telluride -- I didn't finish. But, listening in sequence for so many hours, I got a sense of his personality (as well as that of Shellie, his sister Grace aka Susie, his mother (who talked in Spanish), Ken, and some male cousins.)

I think he was genuine on Hannity. Some highlights below: [More...]

Huffington reports (TV Newswer actually):

Sean Hannity has landed the first interview with Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman. Hannity interviewed both Zimmerman and his attorney, Mark O'Mara, for an episode that will air on Wednesday night. A press release said that "Zimmerman will open up about what happened the night of Trayvon Martin’s death and his experience in the aftermath of the fatal shooting."

You decide. No comment from me.

George Zimmerman's attorneys, Mark O'Mara and Don West, have filed a motion to recuse Judge Lester. The 17 page motion, chock full of examples of why Zimmerman believes the judge is biased and should not preside over either a Stand Your Ground hearing or trial, is here.

The motion also takes a shot at State's Attorney Angela Corey for not bringing the case to a grand jury, and at the woefully weak Affidavit the state filed in support of the second degree murder charges.

Under Florida law, the judge must accept the facts as alleged in the motion as true. The question becomes whether the facts as alleged in the motion would reasonably cause George Zimmerman to fear he will not get fair treatment from the Judge, and whether his fear is objectively reasonable.

I think the motion is spot on. [More..]

In Sanford Investigator Chris Serino's 2 page interview with the FBI, he says he felt pressure from three officers to charge Zimmerman, even though he didn't feel there was enough evidence to charge. He didn't believe Zimmerman was motivated by racial bias. The Miami Herald article is here, and Serino's FBI interview is here.

According to Serino, one of the cops pressuring hims was a Sgt. Barns, who Serino said is a friend of Tracy Martin's. Barns even asked Serino for Martin's phone number. Serino says he ended up getting it from somewhere else. My likely suspect: Team Crump.

Serino told the FBI this during a discussion about his concern that officers were leaking information.

Serino also told the FBI that he didn't think George was racist, but that he may have had something of a "hero complex". [More...]

MegaUpload founder Kim DotCom has made an interesting offer to the Justice Department, via his Twitter account. He later told the Guardian he meant it:

On Wednesday morning Dotcom laid down the gauntlet to the US department of justice, offering to travel to the US under his own steam and faces charges – with conditions. "Hey DOJ," Dotcom said on his Twitter account, "we will go to the US. No need for extradition. We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers and living expenses."

He told the Guardian that the offer was genuine but he was not holding his breath. "Considering the way the US government has conducted their case and the way I was treated, I never expect to get a fair trial in the United States," he said.

He's not happy that his extradition hearing just got delayed until March, 2013. [More...]

More news in the George Zimmerman case. He posted the $1 million bail and was released from jail.

The next discovery round will be available to the media on Monday through the court's media website. There are very few blogs with access to the media site -- and we have to pay the same amount for access as the mainstream media. I don't know the amount yet for this batch (we'll be told Monday), but I expect it to exceed $100.00 and I've agreed to pay whatever it is.

If you'd like to contribute a few dollars to help with the cost, it would be appreciated, and you can do so via Paypal, using either your PayPal account or your credit card. Here is the the paypal link. It's very easy (and takes credit cards even if you don't have a paypal account.) Or you can use snail-mail.

[More...]

Scott Peterson was convicted 8 years ago of murdering his pregnant wife Laci. He was sentenced to death and has been incarcerated since then at Death Row on San Quentin.

Today his attorney filed his first appeal with the California Supreme Court. His brief is 423 pages.

TalkLeft has covered his case since 2003. If you want a refresher, all of our 130 posts are accessible here.

Some of the jurors held a press conference after the verdict, discussing among other things, why they ousted their jury foreman. The San Francisco Chronicle had this feature on life on death row at San Quentin in 2004. People Magazine a few weeks ago, in a feature on how several high-profile defendants over the past decades are doing in prison, reported Scott spends a lot of time doing Yoga and working on his appeal.

In 2004, the LA Times did a feature on the cost of the death penalty versus life imprisonment. One estimate was that it costs California taxpayers $90 million more a year to incarcerate death row inmates than those serving life without parole. There were 641 death row inmates in California at the time. There are now 725.[More...]

Via Mark O'Mara and the Zimmerman defense team: They need money and explain why. In order to come up with an additional fee for the bondsman of $85,000 ($100,000 less the $15,000 premium paid for the first bond the bonding company is apparently going to apply to the new bond), they won't have enough left for the costs associated with George Zimmerman's defense (let alone legal fees.)

For those who have given in the past, for those who have thought about giving, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman was justified in his actions, for those who feel they would do the same if they were in Mr. Zimmerman's shoes, for those that think Mr. Zimmerman has been treated unfairly by the media, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman has been falsely accused as a racist, for those who feel this case is an affront to their constitutional rights -- now is the time to show your support.

The defense fund is at GZDefenseFund.com.

Doesn't the Court accept real property bonds? I'm surprised there isn't a wealthy Zimmerman supporter in Florida who wouldn't put up real property with $1 million in equity, to avoid needing a bondsman entirely, saving the defense $85,000. The Judge's order doesn't specify it has to be a cash or surety bond. The Judge's approval might be necessary, but it doesn't seem to be prohibited by statute. Other Florida counties/districts take them: [More...]

Update: You can read the bail order here. My analysis is below.

The Judge has set George Zimmerman's bail at $1 million. He has to post 10%, will not be allowed to open a bank account, and must be on GPS. Order to follow. Feel free to discuss here or at TalkLeft Forums.

The Court on page 5 confirms "the State failed to prove that the Defendant may be held without bond." On page 4, he repeats his finding the evidence is "strong", and says that the June 29 hearing was not an Arthur hearing, so the evidence on self-defense presented by the defense is mostly irrelevant. He lists a number of short-comings in the defense presentation at both the April 20 and June 29 bail hearing. [More...]