In the hours after a judge raised George Zimmerman’s bond to $1 million, his attorney, Mark O’Mara, took to the web to ask supporters for fresh donations. In his plea, O’Mara appeals to those who have gravitated to the Zimmerman side over issues of race, the media, and the U.S. Constitution.
According to a post on the GZLegalCase website, Zimmerman’s legal team has begun to spend the approximately $211,000 in a legal defense fund set up with funds Zimmerman originally raised via his own website, which were later transferred to a trust account. It was those funds — and Zimmerman and his wife’s lies to the court about them — that got Zimmerman’s earlier $150,000 bond revoked in June. And the judge in the case issued a harshly worded, lengthy order on Thursday demanding the much higher bond. Judge Kenneth Lester claimed that Zimmerman attempted to manipulate the system when he and his wife used rudimentary code to try and hide the money he had raised from supporters, even from O’Mara. And the judge worried that the more than $150,000 the Zimmermans had access to at the time of his April 20 bond hearing, combined with a second passport he also concealed from the court, made him a flight risk.
theGrio: Zimmerman’s bond set at $1 million
But O’Mara, who unsuccessfully argued that Zimmerman was nothing more than a scared young man who felt burned by the system, says his client has enough money to pay the 10 percent required to make bond, but not as much money as people might think.
“In order to get out of jail, Mr. Zimmerman will have to pay a bail bond company $100,000 (10% of the bond amount) and have collateral worth $1,000,000,” the post begins.”George Zimmerman and his family do not have anywhere near $1,000,000 for collateral so even if we pay the $100,000 fee, the bail bond company will have to agree to work with us on how the collateral would be posted. We are encouraged we can work this out. We paid $15,000 initially for the first bail fee so an additional fee of $85,000 would have to be paid to post this new bond assuming we can work out the collateral issue.”
Of the $211,000 or so in Zimmerman’s legal defense fund, O’Mara says some $40,000 are payable for defense expenses. And he says paying the bond down payment, plus anticipated fees for expert witnesses, depositions, private security and living expenses for the Zimmermans could quickly “wipe out the existing balance.”
“While it may seem that there is a lot of money in in the fund, this will be a very expensive case to defend and it is clear that the fight will be long and hard,” the posting reads.
While donations to the Zimmerman defense fund initially spiked to around $1,000 a day after he was returned to jail June 1st, O’Mara’s post states that donations have since “significantly decreased,” because supporters have expressed concern that the judge would set such a high bond that getting Zimmerman released could drain the entire defense fund. But O’Mara says his client needs and “aggressive defense,” and that for that to happen, Zimmerman needs to be “out of jail with his wife and family assisting his legal team.”
While the defense works on securing the necessary collateral — or a deal with a bondsman that will allow them to forego the full amount — O’Mara’s firm is pleading for past donors to come back. The plea notes how “in the days surrounding Mr. Zimmerman’s initial arrest, supporters surprised everyone with the strength of their donations.” And they’re hoping those donors return.
The post closes with an appeal to the variety of causes and groups that have been drawn to Zimmerman’s defense: people who have been outraged by what they see as accusations of racism against Zimmerman by civil rights leaders long despised by members of the right; those who see Zimmerman’s case as one of Second Amendment rights; and others who have made the 28-year-old former neighborhood watch volunteer a conservative cause célèbre:
For those who have given in the past, for those who have thought about giving, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman was justified in his actions, for those who feel they would do the same if they were in Mr. Zimmerman’s shoes, for those that think Mr. Zimmerman has been treated unfairly by the media, for those who feel Mr. Zimmerman has been falsely accused as a racist, for those who feel this case is an affront to their constitutional rights — now is the time to show your support.
O’Mara waived the “speedy trial” provision in Florida law that would have required the trail to begin 175 days after Zimmerman’s initial arrest. That means Zimmerman could spend months in jail awaiting trial if he is unable to make bond.
Read the full post here.
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