A group of news organizations in Florida, including NBC News, is challenging efforts to seal records in the criminal case of a neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing an unarmed teenager.
A motion was filed Monday in Seminole County Circuit Court that asks that records in Zimmerman's file be unsealed.
Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, last week asked that the records be sealed.
Those records are normally public under Florida law. The motion by the news organizations says Zimmerman's case doesn't meet the standards that are typically used to create an exemption to those laws.
“Thus, to the extent the sealed records contain information that has not already been publicly disseminated, Defendant must show that the release of such additional information will deprive him of his right to a fair trial, which is a showing he cannot make,” the motion stated.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder last week for fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in a gated community in Sanford, near Orlando. He is pleading not guilty.
O'Mara filed a motion to have Seminole County Circuit Judge Jessica Recksiedler recuse herself from the case. Last week, she disclosed that husband works with an attorney who has been hired to act as an analyst on the case for CNN.
