Last week, George Zimmerman's family told a Florida judge that they had very
little money with which to help the alleged murderer make bond.
But as it
turns out, Zimmerman had in fact raised more than $250,000 from supporters on a
website and PayPal account he established. That new development, divulged by
Zimmerman's attorney at a hearing Friday, could prompt Seminole County Circuit
Judge Kenneth R. Lester Jr. to increase the $150,000 bond he set earlier --
though the judge said that he wanted to know more about who controls the money
before ruling on the matter.
Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch
volunteer, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the February
slaying of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager whom Zimmerman encountered
one evening and considered to be suspicious. Zimmerman, 28, acknowledges that he
shot the 17-year-old, but says he did so in self-defense.
At a court
hearing Friday morning, O'Mara told the judge that he found out about the funds
after last week's bond hearing. Zimmerman was released from jail less than 72
hours later.
"I think that you needed to be aware" of the money, said
O'Mara; the attorney told CNN about the money the night before.
Florida
prosecutors had originally asked Lester to deny bond, or set it at $1 million,
arguing that Zimmerman has a violent past. On Friday, Assistant State Atty.
Bernardo de la Rionda said that the new information represented a "change in
circumstances," and asked the court to raise the bond amount.
"The family
members represented that they had no money, when in truth they really did," he
told the judge. "...I don't know if they did that intentionally, or
what."
Lester instead instructed O'Mara to give him more details about
the PayPal account so that he can decide what his options are under the
law.
"Before I can make a decision concerning this, I need to see who had
control over that account," the judge said. "I may not have jurisdiction to tell
anybody to do anything, or else I may."
The divulging of the support fund
was the latest in a string of actions by Zimmerman that have raised the ire of
Martin's family. Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for Martin's parents, told the
Associated Press before the hearing that they hoped bail would be
revoked.
"This is a bombshell that was dropped," Crump told the news
service, adding that the parents were "offended" that the court was not made
aware of the fund earlier.
Zimmerman took the stand at last week's bond
hearing and apologized to Martin's family. He did not, however, mention the
fund.
O'Mara said that the family members, at the time of their
testimony, "didn't believe that [the money] was fully available to them. But it
was there."
O'Mara said that Zimmerman had already used roughly $50,000
of the money "for living expenses -- rent or whatever," and that the remaining
$150,000 was now in a separate trust account under O'Mara's control.
He
added that the website, and all other aspects of Zimmerman's Internet presence,
have now been taken offline.
On Sunday, when Zimmerman's family members
came up with the $15,000 -- 10% of the total bond amount -- needed to secure
Zimmerman's release with a bail bond, they used $5,000 of the money raised on
the website, O'Mara said.
The matter came up in a hearing originally
called to discuss news organizations' desire that documents in the court case
not be sealed.
Lester said that from now on, court filings would be
public records, unless the party filing them requested otherwise. He would
determine whether to seal such documents on a case-by-case basis, the judge
added.
