Page 31 - Chief Lee News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

They should be allowed and trusted to handle these cases in the best way that they know how. >>steve: but there was so much political pressure and it came even from the president of the united states. he weighed in on this. everybody was expecting george zimmerman to get a day in court. he wound up with it and now he's free. >> george zimmerman did get his day in court. but let's look at who took him to court. angela cory. i'm not sure if that is better than the police department handling the case. that case was bungled waeult from the very beginning. -- bungled all the way from the beginning....

Wanted law enforcement and they said they would rather to not have law enforcement at the time. we obliged the request. >> did you discuss that with chief lee? >> at that point we informed the chief as well as other officers to not be in the same room. >> do you recall how many times the tape was played? >> which tape? >> let's focus on the 911 tape with the screams for help on it. >> i do not. >> were you there for all the times it was played? >> i was in the vicinity. i wasn't always in the room. >> was either you or the mayor in the room at all times the tape was being played? >> i do not r...

Just to allow them to hear them. >> was there any consideration given to the idea of playing to those individuals separately one separate from the other so as to not affect their view or what they heard whether a they heard one to the other: >> there was not. >> he also said that he asked to be in the room at the time those tapes were played but he was not allowed nor were any of his police officers and as we know the city manager ended up firing chief lee, shep, before or just after those tapes were played. >> shepard: trace, explain how the prosecution countered that. >> they were simply say...

So others don't influence one another. in this particular case was the defense trying to quietly get towards all of this has to do with politics and pushiness? is that where they were going with this without so much as saying it? >> of course. let's just ask ourselves. when do you have a city manager and a mayor sitting in a criminal investigation and kicking the police officers out when there is a homicide investigation taking place? it doesn't happen. i have never heard it happening in the decades we have been practicing. when do you have a mayor and city manager, politicians kicking outlaw ...

>> my understanding is that it happened in the mayor's office, correct? >> yes. >> there were no law enforcement officers present? >> they were there but they wasn't in the room. >> they were not allowed in the room, correct? >> i don't know about that. >> were you present there when chief lee was talking to the mayor and to city manager about the concern with having the tape released? >> objection as to hearsay. >> asked whether or not she was there. >> my objection is to hearsay what somebody else said in her present. >> it will be sustained to hearsay. rephrase your question. >> were you th...