It is reported today the judge revoked George Zimmerman's bail, meaning he must return to jail within 48 hours, on the grounds he misled the court about the funds available at the time of the initial $150,000 bond hearing on April 20th.
On the surface this seems formally correct, nor Zimmerman or attorney O'Mara made any mention during the bond hearing of the mounting donations (according to prosecution on April 20 reaching the $135,000 mark) coming in at his website. And while George Zimmerman was quiet on the subject, his wife testified.
"Zimmerman's wife, however, testified at a bond hearing that the couple had access to limited funds, as she was a nursing student and Zimmerman was not working."
Possibly wife Shellie answered truthfully as far as she knew, and her husband had been behind bars (sofar presumably without internet access), so his silence and her statement to Judge Lester were not intentionally deceptive (neither of them knew about the size of supporter donations), still he was legally responsible to disclose his finances in order for bail to be set correctly.
All this came to light after the 20th April bond hearing, when later that week Zimmerman did access his
IamTheRealGeorgeZimmerman site and saw it had accumulated a whopping $204,000 in supporter money. He told an understandably shocked O'Mara, who immediately informed the judge on Friday April 27th.
Shows (this is is for all of us!) that once you are led before a Judge, standing accused of a crime, regardless of your age or background: school's out. No more calling for Mommy, crying about what's fair or not, you WILL be judged by the law. And Zimmerman was required to tell what money he had.
O'Mara in defense of his client emphasized that there was no actual deceit involved, a claim corroborated by the fact that the (much needed!) money stood untouched on April 20, the day when Zimmerman kept silent, and his wife believed and testified they had only limited financial means.
Will the judge yet weigh indications that Zimmerman was unaware of the donations? If not he may have to wait in prison until the trial starts next year.
orangekea