Posted on 06/05/2012 5:36:30 AM PDT by marktwain
George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with fatally shooting teenager Trayvon Martin, woke up once again at the Seminole County Jail on Monday, where he returned over the weekend after a judge revoked his bond.
Zimmerman, 28, will remain at the Sanford facility until Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester decides if he should be free again, pending his second-degree murder trial.
Zimmerman is charged in the controversial shooting of Trayvon on Feb. 26, which the neighborhood watch volunteer said was made in self-defense.
He was released from the Seminole County Jail in April after posting bond, but state prosecutors told a judge Zimmerman's wife lied about the couple's finances while under oath during his April 20 bail hearing.
Zimmerman's wife Shellie Zimmerman knew about the thousands of dollars her husband collected in donations, but didn't tell this information to Lester.
Meanwhile, Zimmerman, sat by and listened as his wife spoke, prosecutors said.
On Friday, Lester revoked Zimmerman's bond, giving him 48 hours to surrender.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.orlandosentinel.com ...
Was it totally made up of lies from the begining?
The Judge knew about the Passport.
Just more harrasment.
Government frightened to death to offend the Lynch mob.
I read somewhere that the judge didn’t think the passport was a big deal and compared it to replacing a lost drivers license and then finding the old one.
Whatever.
Black America demands its HUMAN SACRIFICE.
ALL else is essentially irrelevant.
The rule of “law” died a generation ago; did anybody notice?
That is true but it's also true that the judge had to have taken that Paypal account into account when he set bail at $150,000 for man who had no other assets, who was not a flight risk, and facing a charge for which the state had and still has no evidence.
I’m not so sure. From the beginning, I’ve been one of the biggest Zimmerman supporters here, but I feel the judge has been reasonable so far.
He refused to let the prosecution blow GZ’s run in with the Alcolhol Control agent out of proportion at the bail hearing, granted him a pretty reasonable bail, and allowed him to live out of state while awaiting trial. He also dismissed the 2nd passport “issue” as irrelevant.
I believe that he would not have revoked his bail unless he had some legitimate concerns. Hopefully, GZ and his lawyers can deal with those concerns at the next bail hearing and he will once again be released (probably on a higher bond).
That second passport was turned over to O’Mara 5 days after the bond hearing.
Thanks, good to know.
The judge wants an explanation of why Shellie Zimmerman or George Zimmerman didn't apprise the court (or O'Mara) of the approximate amount of money in the realgeorgezimmerman account, before or at the April 20 bond hearing. George and Shellie both knew there was upward of a hundred grand there, and Lester feels "left out" of what he is supposed to be privy to before setting bail.
It didn't bug him on April 27th because he didn't realize that he'd been sandbagged by Zimmerman on the 20th. He probably had a clue in mid-May that Shellie and/or George hadn't been forthcoming, but the state's evidence pretty much proved the state's contention that Zimmermans knew, on the 20th.
Back to the passport, I think Zimmerman was sandbagging the court on that point, too. He had two, turned in the one previously reported as "lost" and kept the one that he could have traveled on. Between April 20 and April 25, he disclosed all to O'Mara, so I think Zimmerman was either feeling guilty, or thought he'd get caught, or for whatever reason decided to submit fully.
If I was in his shoes, I'd probably tell the court that I didn't trust the state, and had no reason to think the court wasn't in cahoots with the state. Then I realized that the state has infinite resources, and was going to make my life miserable as it could, no matter what, so I might as well submit.
That is an excellent point. Prosecution did bring it up at the bail hearing, and even if there was some question as to how much was in there at the time, undoubtedly the Court had to assume there were funds and would be more, possibly A LOT more given the attention on the case. It's quite disingenuous to come back now and say the bail should be higher. If so, why not revoke bond and raise the bail again when donations hit half a million. Then again at a million.
I think the judge is most pissed about being misled, not that he would have changed the bond amount, just that he demands full candor from witnesses and defendants.
The state's argument is that bail should be revoked until after the trial concludes, not that it should be higher. They base this on Zimmerman being a liar, and therefore a flight risk, or some such leap of logic.
Lester questioned his power to get at the defense fund right from the start, and now that it is sequestered from Zimmerman by a trustee who is doling funds for designated purposes, Lester has no resource he can "tap" to justify a greater amount of bail anyway.
Back to revocation, I think there are good arguments that Lester overreached by revoking, because he did not find flight risk, danger to society, or that the state has a slam-dunk case with no evidence to create reasonable doubt Zimmerman is a murderer. Lester MUST, under the constitution and law of Florida, grant reasonable bail. His irritation at Shellie or George lying to the court has to be handled with a separate charge from a prosecutor, or by a contempt finding and order.
You mean that he didn't like her Clintonian "I don't know" answers to his questions??? I think a lot of the blame rests on GZ's attorney for not gathering this financial information ahead of time and having it at his fingertips. Otherwise what is he -- a potted plant??? BTW from his website:
"Mr. Zimmerman's legal defense team has decided to delay filing a motion for bond. A hearing will not be scheduled for a couple of weeks, and we will file a the motion well in advance of the hearing."
Looks like GZ isn't getting out any time soon.
Not when he found out that she knew the amount of funds was substantial.
-- "Mr. Zimmerman's legal defense team has decided to delay filing a motion for bond. A hearing will not be scheduled for a couple of weeks, and we will file a the motion well in advance of the hearing." --
So much for the Florida law (and constitution) that an accused person is entitled to bail. Maybe thinking that "time served" will be sufficient revenge for the judge.
Agreed.
Now I see O'Mara is delaying his bond hearing for a few weeks.....something must be in the wind down there...
Roger that.
Zimmerman would be just the beginning, the precedent.
The goal is to make it illegal to defend oneself against (specifically black) thuggery.
Maybe he asked and got the same treatment the court did, on April 20th. Maybe letting Zimmerman sit in jail is O'Mara's revenge, too.
Or, maybe it was an oversight. He hadn't been on the job for long, and had just completed getting a new judge. I think O'Mara is very smart, but not speedy-smart. He comes off as methodical and measured. This is probably the first time he got a client who obtained a self defense fund of this size via website, so quickly.
Not to give him a pass - he's said some things publicly, about how the legal process works, that are false, and I think he knew his remarks were false when he made them. E.g., the 15 day window for discovery starts at arraignment.
That last shred of a chance for Crump to keep out Treyvon's 'character issues' has evaporated.
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