George Zimmerman’s legal team adds murder specialist Don West
By Rene Stutzman and Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
7:32 p.m. EST, May 31, 2012
George Zimmerman, the defendant in one of the most-watched murder cases in the country, on Thursday added a new lawyer to his defense team: veteran Orlando attorney Donald R. West, who specializes in murders.
Attorney Mark O'Mara, lead defense counsel in the case, plans to make a formal announcement today.
West has handled some of the most high-profile criminal cases in the Orlando area in the past 20 years.
In 1998, he served as co-counsel and helped Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano get off death row. Spaziano is the former motorcycle gang member who was convicted of raping and murdering an Orlando teenager, whose body was found in an Altamonte Springs dump.
West also represented Orlando music mogul Lou Pearlman on bank-, mail- and wire-fraud charges, and political consultant Doug Guetzloe, who was sentenced to 15 months in prison earlier this month for failure to pay taxes.
West spent several years in private practice, specializing in death penalty cases, before joining the federal public defender's office in Orlando. He left that job Thursday, specifically to join O'Mara and defend Zimmerman, he said.
"That's true," West said. "I am excited about taking it on. It'll be quite a challenge. … This seemed like the right case."
He and O'Mara, long-time friends, had dinner recently, he said.
"I hadn't seriously considered being involved in the case, then just by coincidence, Mark and I wound up going out together. … We talked about it. I was flattered when he was interested."
West said he expects to be in court in Sanford Friday with O'Mara for a hearing about whether evidence should be released to the media and public before trial.
"I will officially begin work on it tomorrow," he said.
Zimmerman has a legal defense fund that had been grossing roughly $1,000 a day, but that's money that's being used for legal expenses, such things as investigators and experts as well as Zimmerman's living expenses, and it's not clear how much money will go to his lawyers.
West said he hoped to be paid but was committed to the case should that not happen.
David Fussell, an Orlando defense attorney, worked with West in the high-profile Keydrick Jordan murder case, in which West helped get the killer off death row.
Fussell described West as a talented and intelligent man who is "very deliberate in everything he does in the courtroom. … He's one of the best attorneys I've ever tried a case with."
West has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1981. For the past 25 years, he's been board certified as a criminal trial specialist, the same high ranking O'Mara holds.
West has experience with death penalty cases, homicides, sex offenses, drug- and alcohol-related offenses and complex white collar crimes, according to his firm's website.
Zimmerman faces a second-degree murder charge in the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman admits to shooting the unarmed teen, but says he did so in self-defense.
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