Prosecutors on Monday released audiotapes and transcripts of six phone calls between George and Shellie Zimmerman, all placed while George was in a Sanford jail awaiting a bond hearing.
The calls, placed between April 15 and April 18 — two days before Zimmerman was granted a $150,000 bond, which has since been revoked — showed the couple in loving conversation, and Shellie Zimmerman making an accounting to her husband of the bills she’s paid, the arrangements their “security expert” has been making, and what prosecutors say are coded references to approximately $135,000 collected in a PayPal account connected to George Zimmerman’s website.
The judge in the case revoked Zimmerman’s bond after prosecutors accused Shellie Zimmerman of misleading the court about the couple’s finances. Bank records show Shellie Zimmerman transferred large sums from the PayPal account to her checking account in several transactions up to the day before the April 20 bond hearing.
Among the revelations in the calls:
– George Zimmerman counseled his wife, and his attorney, Mark O’Mara, to purchase bulletproof vests, out of concern for their security.
– In an April 15 call, George Zimmerman instructed his wife on how to change the passcodes to his account, so that she could gain access. Prosecutors say he did so in order to facilitate moving money from the PayPal account to Shellie Zimmerman’s credit union account.
– Shellie Zimmerman said during one of the calls that the website George Zimmerman created prior to his arrest “kept crashing” because so many people were logging on to wish him well. Zimmerman expresses happiness at the support, and says those people need to “vocalize themselves more.”
– George Zimmerman reveals that he is taking Adderall, a drug commonly prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
During a call on April 17, two days before the bond hearing, George and Shellie discuss how he’d like to be picked up from jail if he is able to get bond. The two discuss renting two SUVs and whether or not the windows can be tinted. Shellie Zimmerman suggests that might not be necessary, because George could simply “lie down” in the back of one, to which George answers, “well I’ll have my hoodie,” followed by what sounds like a muffled laugh.
Trayvon Martin wore a hoodie on the night he was shot to death by Zimmerman in February. Hoodies have become a charged symbol not just for the shooting, but in the minds of many African-Americans, for the stereotyping of black men.
George Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder in the Trayvon Martin killing. A new bond hearing is set for June 29th.
Below is a partial transcript of call between Shellie and George Zimmerman, April 17, 2012 (source: office of State Attorney Angela Cory’s office)
SHELLIE: Okay, okay, good, so, that’s what we’re working on, so we got that done, so I did the tax extension, I paid the bills, I figured out everything yesterday, with that whole thing with institution and then um, we did this, so.
ZIMMERMAN: Good job, babe. I’m proud of you.
SHELLIE: Thank you, I’m proud of you. Is there anything else you need me to start doing?
ZIMMERMAN: No, not at all.
SHELLIE: Okay.
ZIMMERMAN: Um, if, if by chance I get bail
SHELLIE: Uh huh
ZIMMERMAN: I, I’ve been thinking. I don’t know who I want to come pick me up.
SHELLIE: I’ve been working, I’ve been talking to uh, our safety council about that.
ZIMMERMAN: Okay.
SHELLIE: He’s actually um, gonna be available on that day
ZIMMERMAN: Well, I don’t
SHELLIE: he made himself available on that day
ZIMMERMAN: I don’t want that, I don’t want that.
SHELLIE: Why?
ZIMMERMAN: Because I don’t wanna endanger him.
SHELLIE: (Laughs) You’re so cute.
ZIMMERMAN: No, I’m serious.
SHELLIE: No, he’s working it out with a lot of other people.
ZIMMERMAN: Okay.
SHELLIE: Trust me.
ZIMMERMAN: Okay, but you know what I’m thinking?
SHELLIE: What, cutie?
ZIMMERMAN: Best case scenario, and obviously I’ll talk to O’Mara about it
SHELLIE: Uh huh
ZIMMERMAN: I’m thinking that we should rent a, uh, an SUV
SHELLIE: Mm hmm
ZIMMERMAN: And whoever comes to pick me up, pick me up in the SUV
SHELLIE: Uh huh
ZIMMERMAN: …and that way if they run the tags or whatever, you know, there’s nothing to go back on anyone
SHELLIE: Uh huh
ZIMMERMAN: And if you can, find a hotel that’s got an attached garage. Remember when we stayed at the um, what was it, the Western in Tampa?
SHELLIE: Mm hmm. Oh, there was a garage.
ZIMMERMAN: Yeah.
SHELLIE: Because our safety council was saying the airport.
ZIMMERMAN: Well the airport’s good, but they can still follow you there.
SHELLIE: Mm hmm.
ZIMMERMAN: But, if we go to a hotel that has a garage, and we tell the hotel, like listen, we’re gonna be coming here and staying for a few days
SHELLIE: Mm hmm
ZIMMERMAN: we need access to the garage. Then, whoever brings me can just go, whoever picks me up can just go straight into the garage and go into the hotel through there.
SHELLIE: Or transfer you into a different car. Have, like my car waiting, in the garage.
ZIMMERMAN: Either or, yeah.
SHELLIE: Because safety was saying that um, he has a bunch of guys that could move in on it.
ZIMMERMAN: In a positive way?
SHELLIE: Oh, yeah, like
ZIMMERMAN: Okay.
SHELLIE: …like stop traffic, like stop people from going in the garage at the airport and everything.
ZIMMERMAN: Oh, okay. Yeah, I’m just worried about, you know, if they know what kind of car you drive.
SHELLIE: Well, that’s true. You’re right. They would be looking for the car you went in on though.
ZIMMERMAN: We could have two cars. We could have two rented cars.
SHELLIE: That’s true. The one that we’re gonna drive in
ZIMMERMAN: Mm hmm
SHELLIE: So leave mine home
ZIMMERMAN: Yeah
SHELLIE: Get the one that we’re gonna drive in, and then get the SUV, I don’t know if they black out SUV’s though
(Voices blended, inaudible)
ZIMMERMAN: doesn’t matter
SHELLIE: Oh, okay. ‘Cause you could always like lay down or something.
ZIMMERMAN: Yeah, exactly. Well, I have my hoodie.
SHELLIE: Mm hmm, mm hmm. So.
ZIMMERMAN: So.
SHELLIE: Okay. So I’ll start looking into rental car companies.
ZIMMERMAN: Okay. Okey dokey.
SHELLIE: Today.
ZIMMERMAN: Sounds good.
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport