NATIONAL LEGAL NEWS SUMMARY

Question: What do you think about the following news stories?

(1) "George Zimmerman, killer of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, ordered to return to jail."

Florida state judge Kenneth Lester, Jr. on Friday, June 1st, 2012 revoked the $150,000 bond of killer George Zimmerman, a self-professed "neighborhood-watch volunteer", who has been charged with murder in the shooting death of unarmed 17-year old teenager Trayvon Martin. The judge has ordered Zimmerman to surrender to law enforcement authorities within 48 hours.

Prosecutors filed a motion asking Judge Lester for the revocation, arguing that Mr. Zimmerman and his wife deceived the court about their access to money raised by a website he set up.

During the hearing, Mr. Zimmerman's attorney described his client's actions as an "innocent misunderstanding," rather than a devious attempt to mislead the court.

Prosecutors also raised questions about a second U.S. passport that Mr. Zimmerman failed to surrender, but the judge dismissed their concerns because it was in Zimmerman's defense attorney's possession, and his defense attorney volunteered that it was his fault for failing to submit passport via his oversight.

Mr. Zimmerman, 28 years old, has been charged with second-degree murder for killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin at a townhouse complex in Sanford, Fla., in February. He has pleaded not guilty, claiming he acted in self-defense, and has been living in an undisclosed location.

Mr. Zimmerman, who was ordered to turn himself in to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, is expected to return to jail while he awaits a hearing to explain himself to the court. At that point, the judge could decide against granting bond or set it higher. Bond had been set at $150,000.

At an April 20 bond hearing, Mr. Zimmerman's wife testified by phone that she was essentially indigent. Mr. O'Mara made similar claims about Mr. Zimmerman at the hearing.

Yet on Friday, assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda presented evidence showing that at the time of the bond hearing, the couple had more than $135,000 raised through the website.

Mr. de la Rionda said prosecutors reviewed phone calls between the couple made on a recorded line while Mr. Zimmerman was in jail.

[WSJ, Saturday/Sunday, June 2-3, 2012; www.chron.com/news/article/Zimmerman, 6/2/2012; AP, Hightower and Schneider, 6/2/2012]

(2) JOHN EDWARDS: A Politician Only His Children Could Respect?

David Recchion, the jury foreman in the federal campaign-finance trial of former U.S. Senator and Presidential Candidate John Edwards, said this past week (Friday, June 1st, 2012) that most jurors agreed "at a gut-check level" that Edwards was guilty of wrong doing, but they did not have enough evidence to convict him of anything.

After nine days of deliberations at the federal courthouse in Greensboro, N.C., where the month long trial was held, the jury acquitted the former North Carolina Democratic senator on a count related to a 2008 payment from a longtime donor, banking heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon, to an aide of Mr. Edwards who was hiding his mistress and child. Edwards' wife was dying from cancer at the time of his affair with his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

But the jurors couldn't reach a unanimous decision on the other five counts, prompting U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles to declare a mistrial Thursday on those counts, which included a conspiracy charge and two charges related to donations from another wealthy donor, the late Fred Baron. The government is not likely to retry the case, according to people familiar with the matter.

Mr. Recchion, a 51-year-old financial adviser from High Point, N.C., said the jury saw campaign-finance law as murky on whether more than $900,000 from the two wealthy donors was a gift to help Mr. Edwards conceal his affair with former campaign worker Rielle Hunter, or a contribution meant to further Mr. Edwards's political viability.

[newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/LegalNews, 6/1/2012; "The Social Reader", dailycaller.com/buzz/JohnEdwards; WSJ, Saturday/Sunday, June 2-3, 2012]

(3) MENSA: Dr. Lancelot Lionel Ware.
(Born June 5th, 1915; Died August 15, 2000).
English barrister, biochemist, and co-founder of MENSA, the international society for intellectually gifted people.
Happy Birthday!

(4) Client Update: Dr. Deepak Chopra.

Deepak Quotes: "Lightness of being in the body is the best sign of a happy mind."

Dr. Deepak Chopra is an Indian-born American physician, public speaker and prolific writer. He runs his own conglomerate of activities which focus successfully on mind-body medicine.