I was unable to attend court today, but Greg (Anita Zaffke’s son) provides an update:


Today's hearing was interesting to say the least.  The defense took about 40 minutes to make their points then repeat them over and over and over again.  They cited case law from mostly petit jury (trial jury) cases to argue their point about due process in grand jury proceedings.  The State's Attorney took 20 minutes to rebut all points.

 

Judge's decision on the Motion to Dismiss the Indictment of Reckless Homicide will be heard on February 10th*.

 

Her actions are what make her guilty but if there is any doubt, these are her own words repeated in court today:

 

I was distracted by applying nail polish, which I contemplated whether or not to do.  I chose to do a very stupid thing.

 

Lora Hunt is a walking definition of recklessness.  She didn’t even see the traffic signal until after impact, but her lawyer claims that the Grand Jury would not have found probably cause of a crime if they had heard testimony about the yellow light.  So we now know that the defense motion to dismiss was utterly groundless.

 

This is the way unscrupulous lawyers extract fees from frightened but wealthy clients.  Defense attorney Tomczak didn’t even make sense, arguing that the wording of the indictment didn’t sound “criminal” enough but also that it should have been read to the Grand Jurors anyway.  It seems he doesn’t expect to prevail.  He just expects his fee to be paid.

 

And all of this is for nothing because jeopardy has not attached.  That is, if the judge were to grant the defense everything, the prosecution would simply present the case to the Grand Jury again.  Apart from collecting fees, the only thing Tomczak has done is remind us all of why we hate lawyers:

 

Metaphorically, Lora Hunt was found standing over the body of Anita Zaffke with a smoking gun in her hand.  When the cops asked what happened, she said, “I shot her, which I contemplated whether or not to do.  I chose to do a very stupid thing.”

 

And now Jeff Tomczak argues that the Grand Jurors were misled by the way the prosecution described the color of the smoke emitting from the barrel of the gun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*On February 10th, Judge Fred Foreman rejected the defense motion to dismiss.  The way is now clear for trial to begin on May 3rd which is the day before the first anniversary of the death of Anita Zaffke.

 

 

 

P.S.  On March 2nd, Greg announced the Memorial Ride will be made on the eve of the first year anniversary of his mother’s death and two days before the trial of his mother’s killer is scheduled to start.  The ride will be held on Saturday, May 1, 2010.  Anita Zaffke died on Saturday, May 2, 2009.  On that day, Lora Hunt picked-up a crib from the home of a daughter who lives in Delavan, Wisconsin.  She was following US Highway 12 to deliver the crib to another daughter.  50 miles into that trip, as she was doing her nails, she drove through Anita who was stationary at a red light.  The Memorial Ride will follow that same route.  Registration fee is $20.  See:

 

        http://epic.blacknailbrigade.org/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(background info)

 

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