George Zimmerman Comes Out Of Hiding, Will Turn Himself In Today After Bond Revoked [Video]
Video After The Jump
Sanford, Florida (CNN) -- George Zimmerman returned to central Florida late Saturday and will surrender to authorities before a Sunday afternoon deadline, his attorneys said.
A judge revoked Zimmerman's bond Friday, saying he misled the court about his finances.
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, is accused of shooting unarmed teenager Trayvon Martinin a gated community in Sanford in February. Zimmerman argues he acted in self-defense.
"While out on bond, Mr. Zimmerman has been living in a secure, undisclosed location as there are significant threats against his life," his attorneys said Sunday on the official website for his defense.
"The defense team has coordinated with the Sanford Police Department to ensure Mr. Zimmerman's security when he turns himself in before today's 2:30 p.m. deadline," the website posting said.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the case that sparked anger across the country.
Martin's family contends that Zimmerman racially profiled the 17-year-old who was walking home from a convenience store. Martin was black; Zimmerman his white Hispanic. His family has said Zimmerman did not act out of racial bias.
Seminole County Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. ordered Zimmerman back to jail, saying the 28-year-old was not truthful about how much money he had access to when he was freed on bond in April.
Lester's ruling on Friday followed allegations by prosecutors that Zimmerman had $135,000. At the time, his wife told the court under oath that the family was indigent.
Zimmerman's attorneys said they will request a new bond hearing to address the issue. "The defense team hopes that Mr. Zimmerman's voluntary surrender to Sanford police will help demonstrate to the court that he is not a flight risk. Furthermore, the vast majority of the funds in question are in an independently managed trust" which Zimmerman and his attorneys cannot access directly, the statement on his defense website said.
Zimmerman's trial is not "anticipated" to be ready until some time in 2013, the statement said, and the next bond hearing will determine whether he waits "those many months in jail or not."
Zimmerman was charged in April after the case was referred to a state attorney for a review.
The money in question appears to have been donated to Zimmerman through a website he set up to help with a legal defense fund.
Citing recorded jailhouse conversations between Zimmerman and his wife, prosecutors alleged the two spoke in code when discussing the money in a credit union account, according to a court documents filed Friday by State Attorney Angela B. Corey.
In light of that, Lester revoked Zimmerman's bond and ordered he turn himself in no later than Sunday afternoon.
Zimmerman "fully controlled and participated in the transfer of money from the PayPal account to defendant and his wife's credit union accounts," Corey said in court records. "This occurred prior to the time defendant was arguing to the court that he was indigent and his wife had no money."
Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney, said in April that the money raised by the website was put into a trust account that the attorney controls.
But in court documents, Corey said the money still belongs to the defendant.
The judge "relied on false representations and statements" by Zimmerman and his wife when the court set his bond at $150,000, Corey said. Zimmerman was required to post only 10% of that.
Corey argued that the court should revoke the bond or increase it.
Lester appeared angry that the court had not been told about the money.
"Does your client get to sit there like a potted palm and let you lead me down the primrose path?" he asked Zimmerman's lawyer. "That's the issue."
O'Mara said he had discussed the judge's decision with Zimmerman, who was not in court.
"He's frustrated because he now has to come out of hiding," O'Mara said in an interview with CNN.
"You need to realize we're still talking about a 28-year-old who's being charged with a crime he does not believe he committed, and his whole life has been turned upside down, so I think that it all needs to be kept in context."
Source: CNN
Follow Me
 |
 |
 |
 |
Comment
-
Comment by Bad Habits on June 4, 2012 at 8:24am -
This been old news nextttttt
-
Comment by Slimturk on June 4, 2012 at 6:59am -
This dude lying heavy!! Yet he only getting 2nd degree murder!! smh!!
-
Comment by live on June 4, 2012 at 1:27am -
So before the trial begins it has been made abundantly clear that Zimmerman is a liar. If a individual will lie under oath to protect money, just imagine the level of dishonesty that he will compromise in order to be free to spend the money. For him to actually tell the truth would take an enormous amount of courage. The fact that he settled a hand to hand confrontation with a kid by pulling a 9mm handgun and shooting the unarmed youngster in the chest dismisses any chance of imbuing such courage. Zimmerman would first have to be an actual man (spelled M A N); which he is not.
-
Comment by 1THUG aka YOU WET THA BED!! on June 4, 2012 at 12:45am -
negga look like manu ginobli but wit a tape worm doe!!
"OH you thought you was free...GET BACK IN PROTECTED CUSTODY and think about what chu done"
-
Comment by Franky on June 4, 2012 at 12:30am -
Sick of hearing about this Travyon Martin s***
-
Comment by Jason Nipper on June 3, 2012 at 10:50pm -
Fronco.P, aka Stan " you've got issues bro, i think you need some counseling to help yourself from going over the edge when you get down some"....
-
Comment by greebuh on June 3, 2012 at 10:43pm -
@ angel450cent, Zimmerman is not black, If you are deemed a flight risk due to having access to funds that you hid then you will get your bond revoked. Zimmerman says he doesn't have access to the trust fund his fam has and the court is looking into that. If they find he was telling the truth he will be out on bond again. Now, the reason we get bond is so that we don't have to sit in jail while waiting to got trial because otherwise we wouldn't be presumed innocent. If you are sitting in jail before your trail its usually because you don't have the money to get out or you might run. everybody has the right to get bond because we are innocent until proven guilty and if you keep people in jail while they waiting to go to trial then we might as well be guilty because that is the punishment guilty people get, prison. You need to stay in school because you need to learn why we get bail in the first place, You shouldn't have to sit in jail if you have not been found GUILTY of the crime you are accused of. You only should have to go to jail once you are found guilty and Zimmerman has not been found guilty of anything at all. The court thinks he might run because he has money he didn't tell them about.
-
Comment by top 3 = Ross/Banks/Kiss on June 3, 2012 at 10:27pm -
like @ master said, when it's all said and done, he might as well change his name to O.J. Zimmerman !!! unless miraculously they show some surveillance of the entire situation that went down, the only thing that zimmerman has against him (in the eye of the law) is that he didn't stand his ground/back off when told so, (and now lying about his assets is another black eye, it shows he isn't of moral character) ... having trayvon's team prove that trayvon didn't provoke or attack him is gonna be extremely hard without surveillance or witness ... I know it sucks, but thats whats gonna happen within a year tops... I could already hear the riots going down from coast to coast .... I wish they are able to get their hands on surveillance so that justice can be served, if not, dude would come out scott free, prolly in witness protection, but the kid better stay far away from the hood ...
-
Comment by angel450cent on June 3, 2012 at 7:55pm -
now u can't tell me that he aint racist. profiling him as a criminal cause of his appearance and color of skin. u hear the call.. now i can't call him any names cause he is black also. but the court system is real mess up.. u know the part that kills me that they let him go the first time....he should be in prison until proven innocent. point blank.
-
Comment by live on June 3, 2012 at 7:50pm
-
Zimmerman put up a website to get money for a defense, then say he didn't have bail money...150,000! Boy are some people gullible and must be feeling pretty dubbed right about now. LOl.
Top Content
![50 Cent Speaks On His 'Playground' Book Being Picked Up By Fox For New Cartoon, How His Career Impacted His Son, Making Sure All The Members Of G-Unit Became Known & More [Video]](http://api.ning.com/files/gfq3QAvFlwWETwGdA7WPV4yOp*A67vSjd672cT9jTCA6KFirVgJ1emvSqKMc772EoyELmo9msqZ8T670jrEhNqYMUqpm8NIA/279055527.jpeg?width=32&height=32&crop=1%3A1){kind=small}
Upcoming Releases
Latest Activity
- Top News
- Everything
© 2013 Created by 50 Cent.
You need to be a member of ThisIs50.com to add comments!
Join ThisIs50.com