Posted on 07/05/2012 9:01:28 AM PDT by jakerobins
SANFORD, Fla. - George Zimmerman, the man accused in the death of Trayvon Martin, was granted $1 million bond Thursday morning.
A second bond hearing in the George Zimmerman case was held Friday morning. More
In his ruling, Judge Kenneth Lester scoffed at the notion Zimmerman was confused at the time of his first bond hearing.
Lester said Zimmerman was "manipulating the system to his own benefit."
Zimmerman spent the 4th of July holiday behind bars after the judge could not come to a decision on whether to grand him bond at a hearing Friday.
Lester said he considered everything he heard at Zimmerman's bond hearing last Friday, and would make a decision Thursday. He decided $1 million was a fair amount.
(Excerpt) Read more at wesh.com ...
This is going to have an effect on the election. Somehow the kenyanOTUS is going to benefit from this.
That is the very essence of our adversarial Legal System.
Don’t you know that Pontius Pilate was right when
he decided to appease the mob rather than
endorse justice?
The most important goal of the justice system is to maintain social peace.
If the innocent have to suffer now and then, that’s just
tough.
(sarc/off)
Isn’t there something in the Bill of Rights about “Excessive Bail”?
Well, it’s either that or let the leaned out black guy eat your face off.
Welcome to Obamerica!
What a travesty of justice. This hater judge has got to GO.
If Zimmerman is convicted, there should be retribution.
Only judges are allowed to do that.
Since Obungo came into office everyone has been instructed to ignore the Constitution. I think jurists just flip a coin nowadays.....
I suppose this means the judge decided it was “fair” to confiscate virtually everything in Zimmerman’s defense fund
- doesn’t it take 10% (nonrefundable) to make bail?
If so, this won’t leave much to pay attorneys and provide living expenses for a couple forced to give up their jobs and home by a corrupt rasist injustice system that is acting like a LYNCH MOB
A real justice organization needs to take this case on pro bono.
Maybe someday Zimmerman will be able to countersue for the massive violations of his civil rights
Yeah, only politicians, judges, and LEOs are allowed to do this. Who the he** does Zimmerman think he is?
“He decided $1 million was a fair amount.”
He is no more guilty of second degree murder than I am.
Nor is he a flight risk. Child molestors accused get lower bonds. Give me a break.
Guys, the fis is in. If this “Judge” believed anything that was put forth in those hearings about the situation, he should have given him a PR bond or frankly dismissed the case.
Meanwhile a local rag printed the other day in a “news article” that Zimmerman was in jail and had killed Tarvon because of racial profiling. Really, how is an individual guilty of racial profiling? That has a specific meaning under the law to mean the POLICE...not some private party. Even if he had a racial BIAS, which there is no evidence he did, that is not racial profiling.
Another punk ass judge who caved to politics. Lester probably was read the riot act by “someone” in a phone call after he set the first bail so low.
“Maybe someday Zimmerman will be able to countersue for the massive violations of his civil rights”
I’m sorry, but the Duke lacrosse players tried to sue for violations of their civil rights, and the judge in that case ruled that the right to sue for such violations applies
only to African-Americans (I kid you not) since the applicable laws—
which refer to “every citizen” and “every person”
are really only meant to apply to persons of African descent (no matter what Congress wrote in the law).
Maybe a federal judge in Florida will rule differently;
and if you can afford to wait ten years to get the case to the Supreme Court
and IF the Court agrees to hear it
you MIGHT get a reversal on that.
In the meantime, time and money run on and on and on ...
Hey Gov. Scott lovers. Where is he on this? You wanna tell me this man is a conservative that has our back? Sure.
When hard decisions are needed to be made he ran with the pack of race baiting socialist. Don’t trust this man at ALL.
He's already been convicted. They just have to go through the formality of a "trial" later for old times' sake.
More's the tragedy.
Another thing, Zimmerman needs a pitbull lawyer not this mealy mouthed man. Where is he in the PR media front? Doesn’t he realize that’s half the battle?
I guess when a jury filled with racist blacks convict Zimmerman will see O’Mara on the front steps of the courthouse smiling and saying he knew Zimmerman would be convicted...shades of Sanduski’s lawyer.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but money donated to a legal defense fund is not intended for bail or bond, is it?
So — to get out of jail he has to use $100,000 of his $211,000 defense fund which he will never see back. Thanks, Judge Lester.
He needs to be out to best work on his defense, so I would consider bail an appropriate use of defense funds. It's not like he's using them to buy a fancy car or something.
My first thoughts are completely unprintable here. But now that I’ve cooled down, I think that Mr. Zimmerman’s legal defense fund is going to see some needed funds come pouring in.
Perhaps a deep pocket donor like the Koch’s can do a major donation.
I would not put money on that, times are getting bad and the corruption is getting too widely exposed. There might be a “Loose Cannon” go off in the near future. It’s not Clair Wolf time yet, but it gets closer everyday. November is going to be an interesting month.
Actually if he shows up for trial, the $1M will be returned if it’s s cash bond, but if he goes to a bail bondsman he’ll lose the cost of the bond.
Exactly. Then how will he pay his attorney and his living expenses since everyone made sure he can’t work. Hell a damn community college he was going to even told him not to come back.
The judge along with the special pros were just pissed Zimmerman had money; they want his life ruined. Period.
The defense would like to call Dr. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard University as a witness...
Dr.. Dershowitz, am I correct in believing that you are generally known as one of America's foremost legal experts and scholars?
That is correct...
Your honor, for the record, Dr. Dershowitz's prsonal website has a bio section which notes:
Professor Alan M. Dershowitz is Brooklyn native who has been called “the nation’s most peripatetic civil liberties lawyer” and one of its “most distinguished defenders of individual rights,” “the best-known criminal lawyer in the world,” “the top lawyer of last resort,” “America’s most public Jewish defender” and “Israel’s single most visible defender – the Jewish state’s lead attorney in the court of public opinion.” He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. Dershowitz, a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale Law School, joined the Harvard Law School faculty at age 25 after clerking for Judge David Bazelon and Justice Arthur Goldberg.
He has also published more than 100 articles in magazines and journals such as The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Nation, Commentary, Saturday Review, The Harvard Law Review and the Yale Law Journal, and more than 300 of his articles have appeared in syndication in 50 national daily newspapers. Professor Dershowitz is the author of 27 fiction and non-fiction works with a worldwide audience. His most recent titles include Rights From Wrong, The Case For Israel, The Case For Peace, Blasphemy: How the Religious Right is Hijacking the Declaration of Independence, Preemption: A Knife that Cuts Both Ways, Finding Jefferson – A Lost Letter, A Remarkable Discovery, and The First Amendment In An Age of Terrorism, and The Case For Moral Clarity: Israel, Hamas and Gaza.
I know who Professor Derwhowitz is, Mr. V...
Professor Dershowitz, have you expressed an opinion regarding this case in national media?
I have...
And what was tht opinion...
The opinion of this case which I've expressed in several syndicated journal articles is that the prosecutor has no case against Mr. Zimmerman, and is behaving in an unprofessional if not criminal and illegal manner...
And what was this stupid bitch's reaction to that?
She threatened to sue Harvard University.
That will be all, Professor Dershowitz, no further questions...
>>>Can Zimmerman sue the judge, too, when this is all over?<<<
I have been a big Zimmerman supporter from the beginning, but I think the judge is just about the only individual in the Florida justice system who has been fair towards George Zimmerman.
The original $150,000 bail was very reasonable, given the seriousness of the charge against GZ (as bogus as it is).
GZ and his wife screwed up badly, by not revealing the PayPal cash at the first bond hearing, and by making transactions that appeared suspicious. Despite this, the judge was convinced by the evidence that O’Mara presented that it wasn’t as bad as it originally looked and that GZ is still not a flight risk.
The fact that the judge looked past the public and media hysteria, and the fact that he was deceived in the first bond hearing and is once again granting bail to GZ impresses me.
I don’t think Judge Lester is going to allow GZ to be railroaded and he will do his best to see he gets a fair trial. In fact, I think there is a decent chance he will dismiss the case after a Stand Your Ground hearing.
Does anyone know if there is currently a way to provide more funds to George’s defense fund? This is a total travesty. I agree that it appears the judge set the bail at a level that is designed to deplete the resources for Zimmerman’s defense. Some lawyer is going to make a name by taking this case and seeing that TRUE justice is done.
Main article: Excessive Bail Clause
In England, sheriffs originally determined whether to grant bail to criminal suspects. Since they tended to abuse their power, Parliament passed a statute in 1275 whereby bailable and non-bailable offenses were defined. The King’s judges often subverted the provisions of the law. It was held that an individual may be held without bail upon the Sovereign’s command. Eventually, the Petition of Right of 1628 argued that the King did not have such authority. Later, technicalities in the law were exploited to keep the accused imprisoned without bail even where the offenses were bailable; such loopholes were for the most part closed by the Habeas Corpus Act 1679. Thereafter, judges were compelled to set bail, but they often required impracticable amounts. Finally, the English Bill of Rights (1689) held that “excessive bail ought not to be required.” Nevertheless, the Bill did not determine the distinction between bailable and non-bailable offenses. Thus, the Eighth Amendment has been interpreted to mean that bail may be denied if the charges are sufficiently serious. The Supreme Court has also permitted “preventive” detention without bail.
In United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739 (1987), the Supreme Court held that the only limitation imposed by the bail clause is that “the government’s proposed conditions of release or detention not be ‘excessive’ in light of the perceived evil.”
maybe Dershowitz will take a more active interest.
“Can Zimmerman sue the judge, too, when this is all over?”
Nope. Judges have absolute immunity for all judicial acts over which they have jurisdiction
In theory, bail is supposed to serve one and only one purpose: To ensure that the defendant shows up in court. Bail is not supposed to be punative. If the court wants to punish Zimmerman for “lying” about his assets at he first bail hearing, then the remedy is not to set excessive bail at a second bail hearing, but to cite him for contempt or ask the prosecutor to indict him for perjury.
Zimmerman is an extremely low risk as evidenced by the fact that he didn’t jump bail when he previously had the oppurtunity and the forfeiture was relatively low, and there was no evidence whatsoever at the last bail hearing to suggest he is a greater risk of jumping bail today than he was two months ago.
Hey, that’s a great idea and a time and money saver, too. All jury rooms will henceforth forgo the expense of pens, pencils and notepads and instead be provided with one official ‘court coin’. One ‘flip’ and we’re outta here!
The judge is setting him up for another bond revocation with all this ticky tack stuff. No evidence was ever presented by the prosecution that he was a flight risk or a danger to the community.
Did he attend the same hearing on the 29th that all of the rest of us did????
When a white man breaks the law, the cops take him to jail.
When a black man breaks the law, the cops are taken to jail.
Welcome to Obama’s America. :)
Now go pay your taxes - liberals that hate you need raises. :)
Everyone should grasp the concept-ZIMMERMAN WILL BE CONVICTED! IT IS DECREED! THE FACTS AND THE LAW DO NOT MATTER! ZIMMERMAN WILL BE SMASHED!
No...for what???? The judge is well within the law in asking for high bond. Any and all judges would do the same considering the circumstances.
I read all the way from the beginning comment down to yours before I could find a comment that was informational and impartial. Thanks for posting.
I get so sick of the “tar and feather”-style, emotion-based comments on every subject.
How about considering the evidence which is all contrary to the state's case..
Did you even watch the hearing on the 29th???
Agreed.
Z’s misstep is somewhat excusable because of how difficult it is to keep a cool head in the situation he was in, but he put the Judge in a spot where he’d look like a complete nancy if he overlooked those things and cut him loose gratis.
I haven’t had that much experience with the legal system, but what little I do have suggests that if there is one way to piss a Judge off its to put him/her in a position that “the court” looks like a patsy for helping you.
I want to see this end with the prosecutors disbarred and the charges thrown out as much as anyone, but if its going to happen it’ll be after the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted.
Maybe Casey Anthony can help scrape up some money for him. After all, SHE’S FREE. What a travesty for him to be sitting in a jail cell on the 4th of July, wondering WTF has happened to America. Being Hispanic, punished as a white, overcharged by a scared female ‘Republican’ prosecutor who threatens those who question her decisions.. I’m with you, George. America is indeed F***KED UP.
The low-speed lynching continues.
Does anyone know what Zimmerman and his wife do for a living? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it reported. I think the bail has a lot to do with income as well as cash on hand. This bail seems high, unless he’s a millionaire.
Again I say follow the dots. He will be convicted because the justice dept is not about fair & legal results. This is the USSR. This is a banana republic. This is no land of the free.
I'm sure that's the plan.
Just another excuse to put a Latino in prison.
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