Sanford, FL: As the high profile trial of George Zimmerman in the murder of Trayvon Martin reconvened on Monday, Zimmerman’s defense lawyer Don West followed up the knock-knock joke used in his opening statement with a full 90-minute set of stand-up.
West began his statement on Monday morning saying, “Now I know that last week’s joke didn’t go over so well with you, probably due to the sensitivity of this case and the fact that no matter what a teenager is still dead, but I do truly believe we all have to laugh to keep from crying sometimes. So, without further ado, I would like to attempt to raise your spirits yet again, with a full performance of the stand-up special I have been writing, ‘Murder Jokes and Other Stories.’”
This was met with immediate objections from the prosecution on the grounds of relevance and based on the fact that West promised not to tell any more “bad jokes.” West retorted that he did indeed promise not to tell any more bad jokes, but that these were good ones, stating, “The first joke was funny too, I just delivered it badly. I just wasn’t really feeling it, I had a bad set the night before.”
Further objections from prosecutor John Guy were phrased as, “The fuck,” “Why is this still happening,” and finally simply dejectedly raising his hand from his seat and asking, “Really?”
When Debra Wilson, the judge presiding over the Zimmerman case, was asked why she continued to allow West to go through his entire routine, she responded, “I have never seen a more beautiful train wreck in my entire life. I couldn’t just let it stop.”
“For once, I wanted to continue to allow something very strange over and over again despite objections to relevancy in true Law & Order fashion,” added Wilson.
Those watching the trial from the stands felt similarly. Sanford resident Bill Terry commented, “I know I really shouldn’t have stayed through the whole thing, it was so awful. But I just didn’t want to miss anything.”
Jenna Leahey, another Sanford resident, stated, “About half an hour of his set were just jokes about recent high profile, sensitive murder cases. He worked some generic jokes about O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake. There was even something about Aaron Hernandez in there. Then another solid fifteen minutes of knock-knock jokes.”
West described himself as an “edgy” comedian, willing to say anything on any subject. Prosecutors and attendees of the trial described him as just “kind of being an asshole.”