Judge: Don’t bring up past in Zimmerman stalking case

The judge presiding over George Zimmerman’s stalking case warned his lawyer and the prosecution not to dwell on Zimmerman’s acquittal in the Trayvon Martin shooting, during a hearing Wednesday morning.

Circuit Judge Mark Herr’s admonition came after Zimmerman’s lawyer, Zahra Umansky, told Herr that she was hoping to depose a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office investigator and the alleged victim of the stalking.

Zimmerman was not present during the hearing.

Umansky mentioned the investigator had previously had contact with Zimmerman during the investigation into 17-year-old Trayvon’s death, causing a rebuke from the judge.

“We are not going to open this case to the history of Mr. Zimmerman,” Herr said. “We are not going to go back in time to re-open old wounds.”

Zimmerman was charged in May with misdemeanor stalking after he allegedly harassed a private investigator who contacted Zimmerman and his uncle about an upcoming documentary on the February 2012 shooting.

The private investigator, Dennis Warren, told deputies that over the course of nine days in December he had received 55 phone calls, 67 text messages, 36 voicemails and 27 emails from Zimmerman, records show. An affidavit said Zimmerman also threatened to feed the private investigator to an alligator — a threat he also made against rapper Jay Z, who is producing the documentary. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Herr told Umansky depositions in misdemeanor cases are “severely limited” before encouraging the two sides to find a speedy end to the case. After the hearing, Umansky suggested a deposition would uncover facts in the case that aren’t yet known.

“We believe there’s a lot of things going on in this case … that Mr. Warren is privy to that we think need to be brought out,” she said.

The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 1.