Heh! This entire affair is being revealed more and more as an attempted lynching of George Zimmerman:
A court employee who retrieved photos and deleted text messages from Trayvon Martin's cellphone has been placed on administrative leave after an attorney testified that prosecutors didn't properly turn over the evidence to the defense, an attorney said Wednesday.
Former prosecutor Wesley White said he was ethically obligated to reveal that Fourth Judicial Circuit Information Technology Director Ben Kruidbos retrieved the data that weren't turned over.
Kruidbos was placed on leave shortly after White testified during a hearing in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder case on Tuesday. White said Kruidbos was interviewed by state attorney investigators twice before the action was taken.
White said he wasn't surprised of possible evidence violations by Zimmerman prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda.
"I was saddened by it, but I'm not surprised," he said.
White first learned about the evidence through Kruidbos more than a month ago, he said.
Phone and email messages left at the office of Fourth Judicial Circuit State Attorney Angela Corey were not immediately returned.
I'll just bet they weren't.
Oh, and the deleted photosthat were recovered? They show Treyvon Martin handling guns and using drugs, as well as various text messages on these topics. Reportedly, there was also a video on the cell phone showing some of Trayvon's pals beating up a homeless man.
This all kind of destroys the prosecution's attempt to portray Martin as a harmless little bunny rabbit viciously gunned down by a foaming at the mouth ra-aa-cist.
Judge Nelson has set up a full hearing on the prosecution's failure to turn over t evidence for next week.
If you remember, Defense attorney Mark O'Mara previously filed numerous motions accusing the prosecution of not turning over evidence in discovery.
O'Mara said Tuesday that he felt compelled to bring this matter to the attention of the judge after a hearing earlier this month in which De la Rionda was emphatic that he'd turned over all evidence related to Martin's cellphone.
"(Kruidbos) knew information that nobody else would know about what (the state attorney's office) didn't give us," O'Mara said. "The picture of the gun in the hand, for example, had not been turned over to us. But that had been created back in late January within the state attorney's office.
"That inquiry, if in fact it continues and it certainly should, could lead to some very dire consequences for those who made presentations to the judge that were not accurate."
Along with all the other prosecutorial misconduct that's occurred, it could also lead to a motion for a mistrial and a slam duck verdict to toss the case out of court on appeal in the event Zimmerman is convicted.
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