Dec. 17 turned out to be a long day for Amador County's chief Public Defender Richard Cotta, who appeared before two different judges and battled two different attorneys - all for the same client.

Before the afternoon was done, the murder trial of Kenneth Zimmerman would be pushed back nearly six weeks and Cotta would find himself vowing to defy potential court orders if it meant thwarting an attorney from Los Angeles.

It was early in the morning when Cotta and Deputy District Attorney Steve Hermanson walked into court to appear before Judge Don Howard on a motion to strike down two special allegations against Zimmerman. In August, Zimmerman and his long-time neighborhood enemy John O'Sullivan became embroiled in a confrontation that left O'Sullivan dead. Zimmerman says it was self defense. Prosecutors say it was a homicide. In addition to being charged with the Irishman's murder, Zimmerman is also facing two special allegations that name O'Sullivan's wife, Krista Clem, as a victim. The first involves making death threats against Clem. The second involves false imprisonment of Clem, for Zimmerman blocking Clem's driveway with his truck as he waited for law enforcement to arrive on the night of the shooting. If convicted on all charges, Zimmerman could spend 61 years in prison.

In the first hearing of the day, Howard considered a 995 motion that Cotta had filed on Zimmerman's behalf, which argued that both special allegations should be dismissed on the grounds they were too frivolous to be pushed forward to a jury.

Since the opening court date of the People vs. Kenneth Zimmerman, Cotta and fellow Public Defender Kyle Smith have argued that no witnesses or evidence substantiate Clem's charge that Zimmerman threatened her life. Cotta emphasized that to Howard, saying, "My client denies that it happened."

Turning to Clem's other allegation, Cotta declared, "The false imprisonment charge is even weaker. We heard at the preliminary hearing that sheriff's deputies arrived where Mr. Zimmerman was waiting for them within minutes of being dispatched - and Miss Clem was nowhere around. If she'd been the victim of false imprisonment, one might suspect she would be somewhere imprisoned."

Hermanson stood by testimony and evidence presented at the Nov. 20 preliminary hearing to support both special allegations, including a detective who recalled that Clem had told him Zimmerman made a threatening gesture at her in his truck and screamed at her, "You're f***** dead!" the night O'Sullivan was killed.

In ruling, Howard told Cotta, "I will say this, in your points of authority, you put up a good defense ... but the elements are there that a jury needs to decide."

Three hours later, Cotta and Hermanson were sitting across from each other again. This time they were appearing before Amador Superior Court Judge Dave Richmond. There was also a third attorney present, Catherine Ritter-Harris.

Representing Clem as a victim, Ritter-Harris has filed various briefs and made statements in court suggesting Clem has a legal right under California's new Marsy's Law to have an active role in trial. Cotta has fought Ritter-Harris - sometimes with Hermanson's support, sometimes without it - every step of the way, asserting that Clem is "not the victim of anything" until a jury says she is. Cotta has also expressed deep concern that Clem and Ritter-Harris are attempting a run around the U.S. Constitution by using Marsy's Law to convict his Zimmerman without a jury.

"They're trying to have the mantlehood of 'the victim' conferred on Miss Clem to such an extent that it automatically convicts my client before we've even gotten a chance to present evidence in the trial," Cotta told the Ledger Dispatch.

When Cotta appeared before Richmond that afternoon, it was to ask for a continuance of the trial, since he was still finding and interviewing new witnesses. Hermanson did not object. Ritter-Harris, in essence, did. The Los Angeles attorney argued that Marsy's Law now means that a victim - in this case, Clem - has the right to a speedy trial the same as a defendant. Richmond was unswayed and granted Cotta his continuance. The trial is now set to start March 2.

Ritter-Harris also asked Richmond to issue a court order that would require both Hermanson and Cotta to send all legal filings between each other to her and Clem as well. Upon hearing the request, Richmond looked over at Cotta.

"Is there room in the jail?" Cotta asked. "Because I'm not going to do it."

Richmond defused the potential land mine by telling Ritter-Harris that Amador Superior Court would forward the paperwork to her itself "as a courtesy."

The next day, Cotta acknowledged that he would have risked being held in contempt of court on the point of his Constitutional views versus those of Ritter-Harris. "I would have gone to jail if it came down to it," he said. "I will not have my client put in the position of being subservient to Miss Clem. I'm grateful that Judge Richmond didn't let that happen."