Zimmerman attorney to defend city commissioner in shooting

BARTOW, Fla. – The attorney who defended George Zimmerman in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin has joined the legal team of a former Florida city commissioner charged with fatally shooting a man he accused of shoplifting.

The Ledger reports that Mark O’Mara will join 47-year-old Michael Dunn’s other attorney, Rusty Franklin, at a Thursday morning hearing seeking pretrial release from jail.

Surveillance video released to the public shows Dunn shooting 50-year-old Cristobal Lopez on Oct. 3. Dunn was charged with second-degree murder last week and resigned Monday from the Lakeland City Commission.

O’Mara represented Zimmerman after he fatally shot a teenage Martin in central Florida in 2012. Martin was black. Zimmerman identifies as Hispanic. He claimed self-defence and was acquitted.

O’Mara went on to become a legal analyst for CNN.

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Information from: The Ledger (Lakeland, Fla.), http://www.theledger.com