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State Releases New George Zimmerman Discovery

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...]

  • Report of 4/2 Interview by Agent Kenneth Moore: This is the day State's attorney De La Rionda and Investigator T.C. O'Steen interviewed Trayvon Martin's parents and Dee Dee at Trayvon's mother's apartment in Miami.

    Moore and another officer picked them up at the Miami airport at 12:30 p.m. (They were supposed to arrive at 10:45 am.) En route to Sybrina Fulton's, De La Rionda explained to Moore they would be interviewing Trayvon's parents and girlfriend at Sybrina Fulton's apartment. Trayvon's girlfriend "possibly" lived somewhere else. Another officer, Gaylon White, conducted surveillance of the area to make sure there was no media.

    The Martins' 3 lawyers, Crump, Parks and Jackson were present.

    They interviewed Sybrina Fulton first, at 3:40 pm, and then Tracy Martin, who arrived at 4:30 pm. When Tracy's interview wrapped up, they were ready for Dee Dee but they couldn't find her. They drove to Broward County where they found her at 6:30 pm, and she went willingly with them to Sybrina Fulton's residence for her interview. They then returned her to Broward and at 8:15, drove De la Rionda and Investigator O'Steen back to the airport to fly home.

  • On August 2, 2012, Moore and White picked up a witness (my assumption: Dee Dee) in Northwest Miami Dade and drove her to the Ft. Lauderdale airport where she flew to Jacksonville to meet with the State's Attorney.
  • On August 3, 2012, Moore and White picked up the witness at the Fort Lauderdale airport upon her arrival from Jacksonville and drove her to a home in Northwest Miami Dade.

Why this witness is likely Dee Dee: From Mark O'Mara's Motion to Compel Benjamin Crump to produce the original recording of his March 19 interview with Dee Dee, and the recording device, to the FDLE:

On April 2, 2012, Witness 8 was interviewed by Mr. de Ia Rionda at the home of Ms. Sybrina Fulton. The interview was recorded and has been provided to the defense in discovery. Witness 8 has been listed as a "Category A" witness and is expected to be the state's "star witness" at trial. Since the interview in April, Witness 8 has traveled on at least one occasion from South Florida to Jacksonville to meet with prosecutors. While no further reports or recorded interviews of those meetings have been provided in discovery as of this date, it is evident that the State Attorney's Office considers Witness 8 to be an important witness in its prosecution of George Zimmerman.

There are also new reports on the attempts to get information from Trayvon Martin's cell phone.

  • On March 27, they got a court order for T-Mobile to provide call detail records and cell site location for Trayvon's phone. On March 28, they received call detail records, subscriber and billing information and historical location data for the phone for the period 1/1/12 to 3/1/12. The results were analyzed by Crime Intelligence Analyst Amanda Stephens. From earlier discovery, here is the page showing this is Trayvon's phone.
  • On April 20, they got a search warrant for T-mobile to provide call detail records and location data for a phone. On May 3, T-Mobile responded it had none for the time period requested. This seems to me to also be for Trayvon's phone.
  • On May 1, they got a court order for Google to provide them with the stored data in Trayvon Martin's Google account and password access to it. On May 14, they got a court order directing T-Mobile to reactivate voice and data service to the account. Affidavits were filed for both orders. No results were obtained from either company. Which seems to me to indicate they still don't have any stored text messages, photos or videos from Travyon's phone. See Diwataman for more on the difficulties with accessing data on Trayvon's phone.

The state obtained Dee Dee's telephone records from Simple Mobile, LLC on April 2, hours before her interview, via subpoena. Since it was a pre-paid phone, there was no name on the account or subscriber information. There were call detail records, which were provided in an Xcel spreadsheet for the requested period, Feb. 26 to April 2, and 9 pages of documentation.

George Zimmerman's phone records were initially obtained for the period Feb. 20 to Feb 28. On March 22, at FDLE's request, he signed a consent to search so they could access stored content (texts, photos) for the period March 7 to March 22.

As to the FBI reports, all of those asked during interviews whether Zimmerman expressed racially insensitive beliefs or comments, answered no, he did not.

Update 12/5/12: Mark O'Mara has now released his version of the FDLE reports. While the witness' name is still blacked out on his copy of August 2 and 3 reports and April 2 reports referenced above, he handwrote W-8 on them, so for certain these reports pertain to Dee Dee.

Still unknown: Whose phone records were the subject of the 4/20 search warrant to T-Mobile that yielded no results. I thought yesterday it was for stored data on Trayvon's phone, or the password for his phone, but it could also be for stored content on Dee Dee's phone. (They used a subpoena on April 2 to get her phone records and only got call detail records. A search warrant is needed for stored content like photos and the content of text messages.) While the warrant is to T-Mobile, and her account was with Simple Mobile, Simple Mobile partners with companies like T-Mobile and advises their customers their uploaded data may end up on these other companies' servers. See their privacy policy, and scroll down to Network Storage.

The report for the April 20 warrant says the request was for a specific blacked out number, and doesn't mention a name or a time period for the records it was seeking. In the discovery released to the defense in May, 2012, the state provided the victims cell phone records for 1/1 to 3/1/12 (p.7). In the June 14 discovery (p.3) they list a search warrant and return for telephone records, and separately, Tracy Martin's phone records for 1/1 to 3/1. So while there seems to be two requests for information from Trayvon's phone, both of which yielded results, there may have been three requests, one of which yielded nothing but a return saying there were no records to provide. While information from the SIM card was downloaded directly from the phone by the FDLE on March 26, it seems the state did not get whatever was stored in the phone or its internal memory device.

The April 20 search warrant could have been for either the password or means to access the stored information in Trayvon's phone (which yielded no results, so they turned to Google) or it could have been for stored content on Dee Dee's phone, which they believed might be on T-Mobile's servers instead of Simple Mobile's servers. If it was for Dee Dee's phone, it likewise came back empty.

In any event, in October, O'Mara filed a motion for subpoenas to T-Mobile, seeking records pertaining to any account in Trayvon's name from 1/1/12 to 6/1/12, and for any account in Dee Dee's name from 1/1/12 to the present. The Court issued two orders granting subpoenas on November 28, one of which O'Mara published and pertains to Trayvon's school records. The second could be for phone records or social media accounts, for either Trayvon or Dee Dee.

As to the state stalling discovery, it's a continuing problem in this case. According to O'Mara, the state has yet to turn over reports of the state's interviews with Dee Dee from August when she flew to Jacksonville to meet with prosecutors. There's no reason I can think of it should take this long.

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  • Display: Sort:
    The Aug 2 and Aug 3 Reports (none / 0) (#1)
    by RickyJim on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 08:52:31 PM EST
    Suppose the Prosecution decided after the interviews on August 2 and 3rd that they won't call DeeDee to testify.  Would they have to hand over the interviews they had with her then?  I thought there was a 15 day time limit to hand over discovery material to the defense.  Something about those meetings doesn't make sense.

    Not an attorney, but (none / 0) (#2)
    by NYShooter on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 08:57:05 PM EST
    I believe all evidence that could be deemed "exculpatory" would have to be turned over by the Prosecution.


    Parent
    Why was the state interviewing (none / 0) (#6)
    by Tamta on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 11:29:27 PM EST
    her then again?
    Zimmerman was already charged.

    Parent
    August contact with the witness after (none / 0) (#3)
    by Tamta on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 11:11:33 PM EST
    charging the defendant in April?
    Is that okay?

    Weren't all hands of the State of FL supposed to be out of evidence gathering and investigating once Zimmerman was charged?

    yes it is okay (none / 0) (#17)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:49:41 AM EST
    Both sides can interview witnesses as many times as they want. Prosecutors interview their cooperating witnesses sometimes dozens of times. What neither side is allowed to do is tell a witness not to talk to the other side.

    Parent
    Then (none / 0) (#21)
    by DebFrmHell on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:55:09 AM EST
    how is it that the SAO was able to interview the LE that was under subpoena just before their depositions?

    Attorney for city employees thought it was odd that they would send someone to interview the next in line.  He made a comment about it.  Looking for link.

    Parent

    The cell phone records (none / 0) (#4)
    by Dangles on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 11:14:49 PM EST
    Correct me if I'm wrong, but all the public has so far to show that Trayvon Martin and
    Witness 8 were on the phone with one another are,

    A.) The T-Mobile records produced by Crump and given to the media and
    B.) Witness 8's (a.k.a. DeeDee) word.

    Discounting Witness 8's  word (whom we more or less know nothing about other than her real age apparently), then Martin could have been on the phone with anyone. There were no names or numbers on that call log.

    And one more thing, how exactly was Benjamin Crump able to find Witness 8? She had said nothing to anyone involved in the case until talking to Crump weeks after the shooting? Or if it was Witness 8 that approached Crump, why did she go to Crump weeks later rather than go the police once she found out that Martin had been shot? How did she know to contact Crump? Now that we know she's not a "minor child," the excuse that she was a traumatized, scared little kid just doesn't cut it.

    Didn't Tracy Martin (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by RickyJim on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 11:21:09 PM EST
    Discover DeeDee's phone number on his bill from T-Mobil for his phones, including one used by Trayvon, and had Crump call that number?  

    Parent
    Ah you're right (none / 0) (#7)
    by Dangles on Tue Dec 04, 2012 at 11:32:54 PM EST
    Jeeze it's been a while since I looked into the DeeDee issue. That's apparently what Tracy Martin and Crump say happened.

    Parent
    Somewhere out there (none / 0) (#10)
    by DebFrmHell on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:23:30 AM EST
    is a comment made by Sybrina Fulton that she also had contact with W8.  It was sometime after the funeral and she was asking Dee Dee to come forward and talk to the police.

    She said that she and W8 did not discuss the conversation between W8 and TM at that time.  

    I will have to look for the link but I remember it distinctly.  Maybe the Miami Herald...

    Parent

    Page 37 of 284 (none / 0) (#12)
    by Redbrow on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:32:15 AM EST
    Page 37 of 284

    Fulton was asked about (dd), the girl who was talking to the Victim on the date of the incident. Fulton advised that she started hearing her name sometime around this past Christmas. Sometime in March 2012, Fulton talked with (dd) on the phone after learning she was the last person to talk with the Victim. Fulton talked with (dd's) mother and told the mother that (dd) needed to talk with the police. (dd's) mother wanted (dd's) identity kept private. (dd) agreed to come to Fulton's apartment. (dd) arrived with another unknown black female and may have been dropped off by someone. Fulton and (dd) went outside to talk. (dd) didn't talk about what the Victim had said. She was emotional and said she had gone to the hospital the night of the Victim's viewing. After talking with (dd), Fulton took her home.


    Parent

    Here is (none / 0) (#22)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 01:39:32 AM EST
    Natalie Jackson claims (none / 0) (#9)
    by Redbrow on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:19:59 AM EST
    witness #8 was discovered by a private investigator.

    NATALIE JACKSON: Yes. And, you know, I don't know if it's a terrible job or just they thought it was inconsequential to do the job. You know, there's--whether or not it was important to do or it was bungled, we don't know. But we had to go out and investigate this case. We hired an investigator that got the phone records. And once we saw Trayvon's phone record, because he was on the--he had his phone with him, and we saw that he was on the phone when this incident purportedly happened. We contacted the person he was on the phone with. It was a young girl. And she told us that she heard Zimmerman approach Trayvon. And this is very extraordinary, because she and Trayvon--according to the phone records, there was a phone call at 7:12. The phone call lasted for four minutes. That would make it 7:16. According to police records, they were on the scene at 7:17, and Trayvon was dead. So, this young girl is a very important witness.


    Parent
    Thanks for posting this link to NJ. (none / 0) (#15)
    by Tamta on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:42:01 AM EST
    Did anyone  notice how she interrupted herself and continued to describe the Trayvon-DeeDee-Phone connection without explicitly saying that DeeDee was on the phone with Trayvon at the time.

    1. He had his phone with him.
    2. They 'saw' he was on his phone at the time.
    3. We contacted the person he was on the phone with.
    (minus at the time of the incident)

    Parent
    What minor? (none / 0) (#8)
    by Redbrow on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:12:24 AM EST
    Trayvon's name is not redacted in this report and there was no information about him given in this report. Did somebody tell FDLE that DeeDee was a minor?

    Why include this warning?

    "The information in this report contains information about a JUVENILE that may be privileged or confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law"


    I think... (none / 0) (#11)
    by DebFrmHell on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:27:55 AM EST
    that W8 being a minor was promoted by Crump because names of witnesses were being released that had contact with the media.

    W8 is not a minor and she did the interview with Gutman.  By maintaining that she was a minor, Crump was indeed twarting any attempt by the Defense to issue their subpoena and interview her.  In effect, hiding her in plain sight.

    Just IMO.

    Parent

    Trayvon Martin is still a minor (none / 0) (#13)
    by MJW on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:37:35 AM EST
    even if his name is known. I think the juvenile disclaimer probably refers to Martin.

    Parent
    I don't think so (none / 0) (#14)
    by Redbrow on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:41:48 AM EST
    because the warning is also present on this document that is elusively about Witness 8 and her phone records.

    Jeralyn even highlighted the warning.

    Parent

    Use in other documents (none / 0) (#19)
    by MJW on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:52:54 AM EST
    I don't think it means anything other than the investigation is into a juvenile's death. It's used in the 284 page discovery PDF for witnesses, such as Wendy Dorival, who clearly aren't minors.

    Parent
    I think a lot of the fdle (none / 0) (#20)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:52:56 AM EST
    reports have that "minor" statement on the bottom, probably because the case involves a minor victim -- in other words, the minor reference pertains to the status of the victim in the investigation -- TM --, not the subject of the report.

    Parent
    April 20 phone info request (none / 0) (#16)
    by MJW on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 12:43:15 AM EST
    There's a March 27 request to T-Mobile which apparently got results, yet the April 20 request did not seem to produce any results. Perhaps they were for different time periods, but I wonder if the April 20 request was for DeeDee's phone. Simple Mobile uses the T-Mobile network.

    SAO Interview (none / 0) (#23)
    by nomatter0nevermind on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 09:50:28 AM EST
    When de la Rionda interviewed Dee Dee, he mentioned the phone records.

    5:02-5:07:

    We've got all the phone records that would establish that, so I'm not going to ask you details as to what specific times.


    Interesting. (none / 0) (#24)
    by Tamta on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 11:57:37 AM EST
    BDLR not getting on the record "At this ---time was this you --speaking to Trayvon who was at ---- number?" makes me think of NatJackson avoiding explicitly stating that at the time of the shooting Trayvon was on the phone with this particular girl at this number. (My comment above.)

    Through both of them, it is appears it is supposed to be more a summation of circumstances that makes her the particular witness at that particular moment.


    Parent

    Why do we think (none / 0) (#25)
    by DebFrmHell on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 04:00:01 PM EST
    that Crump, Parks or Jackson remained with Sybrina Fulton or Tracy Martin during their interviews?

    Flight in at 12:30 (no luggage for same day in/out) so say one hour to get to Sybrina's apartment...

    Went to location and met with Crump, and later Parks and Jackson.  What was discussed with Crump prior to the arrival of Parks and Jackson?  What was discussed with between all of them before Sybrina Fulton arrived?

    Sybrina Fulton didn't arrive until around 3:40 when they began her statement.  Tracy Martin got there  around 4:30 and gave his statement.

    Then they couldn't find W8 until 6:30?  Where were Crump, Parks and/or Jackson during that afternoon?  There was more obviously more than one car if two came at a later time.  Did anyone leave during or after Tracy Martin statement?

    OMD!  I am worried I am becoming too suspicious.

    Parks was on live (none / 0) (#26)
    by Redbrow on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 06:36:26 PM EST
    with Nancy Grace April 2, 2012 - 20:00 ET, acting like the prosecution's interview earlier that day never happened yet and still lying about DeeDee being a minor.

    PARKS: Well, part of the problem is she`s a minor so it`s a very delicate situation.

    GRACE: So? What`s delicate?

    PARKS: They`re trying to protect --

    GRACE: Bring the parents in.

    PARKS: Well, one, she`s been traumatized. Number two, they`re trying to work out the process. Obviously the prosecutors and their investigators have to travel to South Florida to do it. So those things are happening as we speak.


    Why did the first Doc Dump (none / 0) (#27)
    by DebFrmHell on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 08:31:28 PM EST
    say that Dee Dee was interviewed in Jacksonville when clearly, de la Rionda and O'Steen flew down to Miami for the meetings/interviews with Fulton, Martin and W8?

    url= Witness List

    It didn't say (none / 0) (#29)
    by Jeralyn on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 09:45:43 PM EST
    she was interviewed in Jacksonville. The heading for the column is "Agency". The agency is the State's Attorneys office based in Jacksonville (4th District). The individuals from that agency conducting the interview were BDLR & O'Steen. It distinguishes them from SAO-Sanford which is a different state's attorney's office headed by Wolfinger.

    Parent
    Thank you (none / 0) (#30)
    by DebFrmHell on Thu Dec 06, 2012 at 12:24:04 AM EST
    for the clarification!  You are the bestest!

    Parent
    April 1 Presser (none / 0) (#28)
    by Tamta on Wed Dec 05, 2012 at 09:20:17 PM EST
    Crump speaking of DeeDee after 7minute mark.