Our colleague Cameron McWhirter sends this dispatch:
An April 20 bond hearing was set for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood-watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Mr. Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, has said he plans to seek Mr. Zimmerman’s release from a correctional facility in Sanford, Fla., while the legal process is under way.
In a status hearing Friday afternoon, Mr. O’Mara said he may also seek the removal of Jessica Recksiedler, the Seminole County Circuit Court judge assigned to the case. Judge Recksiedler presided at the hearing.
Judge Recksielder’s husband, Jason Recksiedler, is a partner in the law firm of Mark NeJame, an attorney who said he had been asked in early March by contacts of Mr. Zimmerman to take on Mr. Zimmerman’s case. Mr. NeJame declined and recommended Mr. O’Mara, who is now Mr. Zimmerman’s attorney.
Mr. NeJame is now a paid CNN legal analyst commenting on the case.
Mr. O’Mara said Friday he is concerned Mr. NeJame’s connections to the judge’s husband would present the appearance of impropriety, because of Mr. NeJame’s “activist role as an analyst,” he said, addressing the court via speakerphone.
Judge Recksiedler said she disclosed her husband’s ties to Mr. NeJame when she was assigned the case. She asked that if Mr. O’Mara or state prosecutors wish to disqualify her from the case, that they do so in writing and submit it before the bond hearing next week.