Travyon Martin shooting: Gun store owner a George Zimmerman witness

Attorney Benjamin Crump (C) waves to supporters with Tracy Martin (R) and Sabrina Fulton (L), the parents of the late Trayvon Martin, after they addressed U.S. lawmakers at a meeting on Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law in Longwood, Fla.

 

SANFORD, FLA.—A new list of evidence in the George Zimmerman case includes, for the first time, the names of several civilian witnesses—including several local firearms dealers and instructors—but it remains unclear what their roles will be in the neighbourhood watch volunteer’s prosecution, if any.

Among the newly named witnesses is Khaled Akkawi, owner of Shoot Straight, and several of his employees. Why? Akkawi told the Orlando Sentinel the Federal Bureau of Investigation paid him a visit several weeks after the shooting with a photo of Zimmerman, wanting to know if Zimmerman had been to the chain’s gun stores and ranges.

But according to Akkawi, there is a stronger connection to Zimmerman’s shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

“He bought the gun from us,” Akkawi said.

Earlier Friday, Akkawi—who stresses that he is a strong supporter of Florida’s stand-your-ground law, which has come under fire since the Feb. 26 shooting—expressed surprise when told he was named as a witness in the case. But after thinking about it further, he said there were several possible reasons.

In addition to the gun sale, Akkawi said, Zimmerman visited Shoot Straight’s Casselberry location on multiple occasions, had fired on the ranges and interacted with employees. The store also is a major National Rifle Association recruiter, he said, and his employees have testified in court as experts in the past.

Prosecutors on Thursday released to defense attorneys hundreds of pages of new evidence in the murder case, including witness statements, nearly a dozen FBI reports and jail records.

The new evidence also includes email to or from Zimmerman, unspecified email involving Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, the cell phone records of Trayvon’s father and surveillance video from a bank.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara received the evidence Thursday, he wrote in a blog post.

A list of the evidence made available this morning identifies dozens of new witnesses, 21 of them whose names are being withheld to protect their privacy. Many other new witnesses also are named, including employees with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and Sanford Police Department.

Among the witnesses whose names were released:

• •Akkawi, the manager of his Apopka, Fla., store and two employees of the Shoot Straight in Casselberry.

• •Matt Brantly Jr. and D’ Andre Stinnett of Brantly & Associates, a Central Florida tactical firearms training facility.

• •John Wright, a Sanford private investigator. Wright told the Orlando Sentinel he was hired by the Martin family, but declined to elaborate.

• •Scott McLeod, a former Seminole County sheriff’s deputy now working at Chuluota Sportsmen’s Club.

• •Two men identified in social media as current or former employees of the Gander Mountain store in Lake Mary, Fla.

Much of the new evidence is in the form of reports written by people at the scene or those who were part of the investigation. An eight-page report from Sanford Fire-Rescue is also on the list.

Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 as the unarmed Miami Gardens teenager was walking back from a 7-Eleven. Zimmerman told police he acted in self-defense.

The new evidence list does not detail what each piece of evidence reveals.

For example, it lists 10 FBI reports. They appear to be summaries of witness interviews by individual agents.

The list also suggests prosecutors have looked at Zimmerman’s past arrest and his online activity  Source

 

FBI queried gun dealers in Zimmerman case

Another batch of evidence was delivered to the defense in the George Zimmerman murder trial, including records that show up to 10 FBI agents probed the case interviewing local gun dealers.
By Frances Robles
frobles@MiamiHerald.com

The FBI dispatched at least 10 special agents to Central Florida to investigate the Trayvon Martin shooting, records filed in Seminole County Court show.

The agents interviewed up to a dozen firearms dealers, gun range employees and private investigators about George Zimmerman, according to a court document filed Friday by Assistant State Attorney Bernardo de la Rionda. Another 11 investigators from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also joined the probe.

“Two FBI agents showed up here with a picture of Zimmerman asked me if I recognized him,” said gun dealer Khaled Akkawi, who was listed as a witness in the case. “They were pretty much asking along the lines of if he had made racial comments or anything. My employees told me it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Didn’t the guy have a Sunday school in his house for minority kids?”

Before he shot the unarmed teen, Zimmerman mentored a black child, his family has said.

Akkawi owns Shoot Straight, a firearms store and range that boasts seven Florida locations and the “largest selection of guns for sale in the Southeast.” Zimmerman purchased the Kel Tek 9 mm semiautomatic handgun he used to kill Miami Gardens teenager Trayvon Martin at the store’s Casselberry location, Akkawi said.

“As soon as there is a controversy like that, I look it up in the computer, and sure enough, there he was,” Akkawi said, insisting that the Herald mention that he is a strong advocate of the state’s Stand Your Ground law. “I have to admit, this has been a good year for gun sales. I don’t know if it was this case or the election year, but we’re enjoying a good boost.”

Akkawi’s name appears on a list de la Rionda filed in court that documents the additional evidence that was turned over to defense attorney Mark O’Mara on Thursday.

The package of evidence O’Mara received included seven compact discs and hundreds of pages of documents, the defense attorney said on his website.

“It includes surveillance video, police radio transmissions, crime scene photos, 911 calls Mr. Zimmerman made prior to the night of the shooting, and more,” he wrote. “The documents include a crime scene diagram, and additional reports from the Sanford Police Department, FDLE, and the FBI. … The discovery process is ongoing, and we expect additional discovery to be disclosed as the case develops.”

The judge gave O’Mara 30 days to review the new evidence before it is made public.

Prosecutors said they plan to release six recordings of Zimmerman’s jailhouse phone calls being used in evidence in his wife’s perjury case. Initially the State Attorney’s Office said it planned to release 151 of Zimmerman’s calls, but held off after O’Mara objected.

Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 killing of Trayvon, a teenager walking back from a convenience store to his father’s girlfriend’s apartment in Sanford. Trayvon got into a fistfight with the neighborhood watch volunteer, who shot the teen once in what he said was self defense.

Police had decided not to charge Zimmerman, but after federal and state agencies stepped in, Zimmerman was arrested.

This week, his wife was charged with perjury for lying under oath about the couple’s finances at Zimmerman’s April 20 bond hearing.

Zimmerman’s bond was revoked, and another bail hearing will be held June 29.

In Friday’s court filing, prosecutors also mentioned 21 more witnesses whose names have been kept secret.

Other witnesses who were named included Akkawi’s employees, two people from a tactical firearms facility in Central Florida, a private investigator and a range master at another gun club.

“I don’t know where you are getting this from,” said former Seminole County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott McLeod, range master at the Chuluota Sportsmen’s Club who was listed as a witness in the case. “I am telling you: Nobody has ever come to interview me.”

The document filed by the court also said prosecutors would present cellphone records belonging to Tracy Martin, the dead teen’s father. Crime scene photos, emails between Zimmerman and former chief Bill Lee were also listed as evidence, as well as the defendant’s previous calls to police in the six months prior to the shooting and a printout of his anti-Mexican rants on MySpace   Source

 

George Zimmerman: New discovery documents delivered to lawyer

 

SANFORD —

George Zimmerman’s defense team has received another batch of discovery evidence from state prosecutors.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara confirmed the delivery early Friday on his website for Zimmerman’s case.

According to O’Mara, the defense received seven CDs and hundreds of pages of new documents.

“It includes surveillance video, police radio transmissions, crime scene photos, 911 calls Mr. Zimmerman made prior to the night of the shooting, and more,” said O’Mara. “The documents include a crime scene diagram and additional reports from the Sanford Police Department, FDLE and the FBI.”

The discs also reportedly include jailhouse phone calls and information from MySpace profiles.

O’Mara did not immediately reveal any other details. He said the defense is allowed 30 days to review all the new evidence before it’s released to the public.

“The discovery process is ongoing, and we expect additional discovery to be disclosed as the case develops,” he added.

This is the second round of discovery documents released by the state in the case against George Zimmerman, who has been charged with second-degree murder for the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February.

It was exactly one month ago Friday that O’Mara received the first batch of evidence. That included powerful witness testimony, autopsy reports and photos of Zimmerman the night of the shooting, showing cuts on his head and face.

Along with that evidence, at least of a dozen witnesses’ names and addresses have been released.

Thursday night, it was revealed that O’Mara will use Zimmerman’s bond agents for his upcoming hearing, scheduled for Friday, June 29.

Employees from the Magic Bail bond agency are expected to vouch for Zimmerman’s behavior as he fights to get out of jail yet again.

Zimmerman was locked back up in the Seminole County Jail after his bond was revoked following the discovery that his wife, Shellie Zimmerman, lied about how much money the couple had during her husband’s initial bond hearing in April.

Shellie Zimmerman was arrested earlier this week for perjury. She bonded out of jail shortly after her arrest   Source

 

Mormon Jabari Parker, 17, Might Be Next Big Thing in NBA

In the pool of high school players considered strong enough to make it to the NBA, 17-year-old Jabari Parker is a big fish.

Jabari is a standout, and not just for his size – he’s 6-foot-9 and weighs 220 pounds – or his 3.7 high school GPA. What also makes him unique is that he’s an African-American Mormon.

Of the 6.2 million Mormons in America, only 3 percent are African-American.

And for Jabari Parker, it’s his faith that defines him, not the promise of basketball superstardom that seems almost certain to be in his future.

People don’t equate Mormonism with him, Jabari told ABC News’ Katie Couric during a recent interview at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Manhattan.

“Once they think of Mormonism, they will look at a white guy. But it’s worldwide,” Jabari, a student at Chicago’s Simeon Career Academy, said.

Couric also asked Jabari what he thought about his growing celebrity. He’s featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine’s May 21 issue. The magazine calls him the best high school basketball player since LeBron James.

“I’ve always dreamed of being on the front magazine cover all my life,” he said.

For Jabari, that talent is in the genes. His father, Sonny, played for the Golden State Warriors in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The youngest of Sonny and Lola Parker’s four children, Jabari inherited his father’s passion for the game, and led Simeon Career Academy to three state championships.

Lola Parker said she first recognized her son’s special talent early on. “He was seven. I would take him to practice. The kids were two … some of them were three years older. His skill level, he could beat all of them on the court,” she said.

As Jabari grew, so did his abilities on the basketball court. Not surprisingly, college coaches – from the top programs – soon came calling.

“I’m looking at almost every school right now,” Jabari said. “And it’s [an] evaluation period for me as well. They’re not just looking at me, I’m looking at them.”

And he plans to be picky.

“Well, you have to be,” he said. “You have to be selfish for yourself. Because this is the biggest decision of your life.”

And, of course, a future with NBA beckons.

If Jabari does end up in the NBA, he would be the first African-American Mormon drafted into the league.

But he’ll have a big decision to make that could delay any potential NBA career.

When Mormons are 19, they’re expected to go on a two-year mission for the church. For Jabari, that would be right around the time he would be eligible to enter the NBA draft and sign a potentially huge contract.

The mission is voluntary. Steve Young and Danny Ainge, both Mormons, elected to forgo a mission and went on to have successful professional sporting careers — Ainge in the NBA and Young in the NFL.

His parents don’t know what Jabari will do.

“That’ll be his choice to make, but we’ve encouraged him to, you know, be a good person. And that’s all we can hope for,” his mother said.

Jeff Benedict, who wrote the profile of Jabari for Sports Illustrated, told Couric that the teen might feel some pressure.

“It’s not that the church puts pressure on you to do it, it’s just that there’s an expectation that young men in the Mormon church should go,” Benedict, who is a Mormon, told Couric. “And all boys in the Mormon church grow up knowing that, and certainly he feels that and so there’s a bit of a pull.    Source

 

AP sources: Immunity offered to certain immigrants

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.

The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was to announce the new policy Friday, one week before President Barack Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials’ annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to the group on Thursday.

Obama planned to discuss the new policy Friday afternoon from the White House Rose Garden.

Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.

The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods. It tracks closely to a proposal offered by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as an alternative to the DREAM Act.

“Many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways,” Napolitano wrote in a memorandum describing the administration’s action. “Prosecutorial discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.”

The extraordinary move comes in an election year in which the Hispanic vote could be critical in swing states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida. While Obama enjoys support from a majority of Hispanic voters, Latino enthusiasm for the president has been tempered by the slow economic recovery, his inability to win congressional support for a broad overhaul of immigration laws and by his administration’s aggressive deportation policy. Activists opposing his deportation policies last week mounted a hunger strike at an Obama campaign office in Denver, and other protests were planned for this weekend.

The change is likely to cause an outcry from congressional Republicans, who are sure to perceive Obama’s actions as an end run around them. Republicans already have complained that previous administration uses of prosecutorial discretion in deportations amount to back-door amnesty. Romney and many Republican lawmakers want tighter border security measures before considering changes in immigration law. Romney opposes offering legal status to illegal immigrants who attend college but has said he would do so for those who serve in the armed forces.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll last month found Obama leading Romney among Hispanic voters 61 percent to 27 percent. But his administration’s deportation policies have come under fire, and Latino leaders have raised the subject in private meetings with the president. In 2011, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 396,906 people and is expected to deport about 400,000 this year.

A December poll by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that 59 percent of Latinos disapproved of the president’s handling of deportations.

The changes come a year after the administration announced plans to focus on deporting serious criminals, immigrants who pose threats to public safety and national security, and serious immigration law violators.

One of the officials said the latest policy change is just another step in the administration’s evolving approach to immigration.

Under the plan, immigrants whose deportation cases are pending in immigration court will have to prove their eligibility for a reprieve to ICE, which will begin dealing with such cases in 60 days. Any immigrant who already has a deportation order and those who never have been encountered by immigration authorities will deal with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The exact details of how the program will work, including how much immigrants will have to pay to apply and what proof they will need, still are being worked out.

In making it harder to deport, the Obama administration is in essence employing the same eligibility requirements spelled out in the proposed DREAM Act.

The administration officials stopped short of calling the change an administrative DREAM Act — the name is an acronym for Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors — but the qualifications meet those laid out in a 2010 version that failed in the Senate after passing in the House. They said the DREAM Act, in some form, and comprehensive overhaul of the immigration system remained an administration priority.

Illegal immigrant children won’t be eligible to apply for the deportation waiver until they turn 16, but the officials said younger children won’t be deported either.

Last year, Napolitano announced plans to review about 300,000 pending deportation cases and indefinitely suspend those that didn’t meet department priorities. So far, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reviewed more than 232,000 cases and decided to stop working on about 20,000. About 4,000 of those 20,000 have opted to keep fighting in court to stay in the United States legally. For the people who opted to close their cases, work permits are not guaranteed.  Source

 

Miami Heat steals Game 2 against Oklahoma City Thunder, ties series 1-1

 

 

LeBron James had 32 points and was perfect at the foul line, and the Heat rode a ferocious first quarter to take Game 2 and snatch home-court advantage.

OKLAHOMA CITY — This was Eastern Conference toughness. This was Pat Riley hammer and anvil stuff. This was LeBron James and the Miami Heat finally asserting its brutish and ridiculously unstoppable toughness.

Stealing the momentum of the NBA Finals with three straight games now in Miami, the Heat defeated the Thunder 100-96 on Thursday at Chesapeake Energy Arena to tie the best-of-7 series at 1-1. James, making clear from the beginning that he was the strongest, most athletic player in the building, scored 32 powerful points, most of them coming from close range on post-up moves or difficult drives to the basket. He was 10 of 22 from the field and 12 of 12 from the free-throw line.

The Heat outscored the Thunder 48-32 in the paint and executed every adjustment after its Game 1 collapse but still, somehow, Miami watched it nearly unravel in the final seconds. The Heat led 98-91 with less than 50 seconds to play when Russell Westbrook cut it a two-possession game with a driving layup. Miami then fumbled away the ball bring it up the court and Kevin Durant scooped it up for an easy three-pointer with 37.5 seconds. It cut the Heat’s lead to 98-96.

Suddenly, after so much went right for the Heat all night, the Heat was dangerously close to going down 2-0 in the series. Durant, who finished with 32 points, had the ball in his hands with less than 10 seconds to play but missed a seven-foot bank shot. James desperately grabbed the defensive rebound and was fouled immediately by Westbrook. James made his final free throws of the night to seal the victory.

Dwyane Wade, critiqued for looking a little past his prime in Game 1, responded with 24 points, including 13 in the first half. Wade was 10 of 20 from the field to go along with and 4 of 6 from the free-throw line.

Staring his first game since the Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Chris Bosh had 16 points and 15 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. He breathed life into the Heat’s half-court offense from the beginning of the game and settled the defense on the other end.

Bosh did the little things well. He absorbed a charge by James Harden with a minute left in the third quarter to preserve a double-digit lead. He spread the Thunder’s defense for his hard-driving teammates but also hustled to loose balls in the paint and limited the Thunder on the glass. He had a double-double before halftime.

Bosh did the big things even better. His dunk with 53.8 seconds left gave Miami a seven-point lead and ensured the Heat would somehow get out of Oklahoma City, an impossibly difficult place for opponents of the Thunder, with the series tied 1-1.

Bosh’s offensive rebound with 10 minutes left in the game gave the Heat an extra possession and then Bosh, seconds later, delivered a pair of free throws from the

The Heat held a 78-67 advantage entering the fourth quarter and had 20 more points in the paint than Oklahoma City.

A driving one-handed dunk by Durant cut the Heat’s lead to eight points with 8:20 left in the game. It was Oklahoma City’s smallest deficit since midway through the second quarter. Bosh delivered the dunk with about a half second on the shot clock to end the run.

The Heat led 27-15 after the first quarter and 44-43 at halftime. Bosh made an immediate impact in a starting role, clearing the lane for Wade and James, and Battier remained red hot from three-point range.

Battier drained his third three-pointer of the first half to give the Heat a 42-29 lead. At that point, Battier was 7 of 10 from distance through less than six quarters of the NBA Finals. It has taken him a decade to reach the NBA’s promised land but he’s making the most of the opportunity. Batter finished with 17 points and was 5 of 7 from three-point range.

Bosh’s energy and post presence in the first half completely changed the outlook of the series for the Heat. He played 19 minutes in the first half and delivered a double-double. It was his first double-double since April 16, nearly a month’s time.

The Heat led by as many as 17 points in the first half. James, throwing his weight and strength around against younger opponents seemed unstoppable. The Heat went ahead 5-134 with a 14-4 run. Five different players scored during run, which is significant for the Heat.

Westbrook had points for the Thunder and Harden had 21 off the bench  Source