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Stories tagged with “George Zimmerman

NEWS FLASH

BREAKING: Judge Sets New Bond For George Zimmerman Of $1 Million | Zimmerman’s previous bond of $150,000 was revoked after the judge found he misrepresented his financial situation to the court.

More from the Orlando Sentinel:

It was not immediately clear how long it would take the 28-year-old Zimmerman to arrange his release.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara said Friday that Zimmerman’s legal defense fund had a balance of $211,000, more than enough to cover the 10-percent non-refundable portion charged by most bonding companies.

…In his nine-page order, the judge also banned Zimmerman from having or opening a bank account. He again ordered the defendant to wear a satellite monitoring device and this time put him on a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

Full text of the judge’s order HERE.

NEWS FLASH

Florida Police Chief Involved In Trayvon Martin Case Fired Yesterday | Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee — the police chief of the department responsible for handling the George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin case — was fired yesterday, city officials confirm. Lee has been on paid leave since March 22, when he declared himself a “distraction” from the high-profile, racially-charged case. He attempted to hand in his resignation a month later, but it was rejected by a 3-2 vote from the Sanford City Commission. “I have come to this decision in light of the escalating divisiveness that has taken hold of the city. The police chief needs to have the trust and respect of the elected officials and the confidence of the entire community,” Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte said in a statement. Bonaparte has not yet clarified why this decision was able to proceed without another City Commission vote.

Justice

Zimmerman Lawyer Admits Zimmerman Misled Court At Bail Hearing, Blames Trayvon Martin Supporters

Last week, the judge presiding over George Zimmerman’s trial for the alleged murder of Trayvon Martin revoked Zimmerman’s bond because he failed to disclose $200,000 donated to him through a website. Earlier today, his legal team released a statement claiming that Zimmerman should be allowed to post a new bond because “in all other regards, Mr. Zimmerman has been forthright and cooperative.” The statement also suggests that part of the blame for Zimmerman’s misstatements rests on the many activists who worked to ensure that Zimmerman’s guilt or innocence would be evaluated by a court of law:

The audio recordings of Mr. Zimmerman’s phone conversations while in jail make it clear that Mr. Zimmerman knew a significant sum had been raised by his original fundraising website. We feel the failure to disclose these funds was caused by fear, mistrust, and confusion. The gravity of this mistake has been distinctly illustrated, and Mr. Zimmerman understands that this mistake has undermined his credibility, which he will have to work to repair.

At the point of the bond hearing, Mr. Zimmerman had been driven from his home and neighborhood, could not go to work, his wife could not go back to a finish her nursing degree, his mother and father had been driven from their home, and he had been thrust into the national spotlight as a racist murderer by factions acting with their own agendas. None of those allegations have been supported by the discovery released to date, yet the hatred continues.

Zimmerman was originally released on a $150,000 bond. It’s not clear yet whether the judge will allow him to pay a higher bond in the wake of his misstatements to the court.

Justice

In Florida, Nearly 70 Percent Of People Who Invoked ‘Stand Your Ground’ Walked Away Scot Free

It took 44 days before George Zimmerman was arrested for Trayvon Martin’s death because police claimed he was “standing his ground” when he fatally shot the teenager. But these kinds of delays are not all that uncommon under the ALEC-sponsored law, a new report by Tampa Bay Times concludes. The report finds that in nearly one-third of 200 Stand Your Ground cases, the defendant had initiated the fight, shot an unarmed individual or first pursued the victim, and were never even charged with crimes.

Additionally, Stand Your Ground has allowed police a wide latitude of interpretation, resulting in uneven enforcement for whites and blacks. Some of the report’s findings include:

  • Nearly 70 percent of those who have invoked “stand your ground” to avoid prosecution have gone free.
  • 73 percent of those who killed a black person walked away without penalty, while 59 percent of those who killed a white person went free.
  • Attorneys are increasingly invoking Stand Your Ground in ways state legislators didn’t originally intend, and use of this defense has grown five-fold in nonfatal cases between 2008 and 2011.
  • Among the incidents where defendants walked free: “One man killed two unarmed people and walked out of jail. Another shot a man as he lay on the ground. Others went free after shooting their victims in the back.”
  • There are three times more concealed carry permits in Florida since 2005, when Florida passed the law.
  • In Florida, the number of Stand Your Ground cases is on the rise, being invoked in cases with both minor injuries and where the defendants shot a person who was unarmed or whose back was turned. As Tampa Bay Times writes, “If you claim ‘stand your ground’ as the reason you shot someone, what happens to you can depend less on the merits of the case than on who you are, whom you kill and where your case is decided.” For George Zimmerman, these inconsistencies have played out in national media, but many times these cases escape notice and even police records.

    NEWS FLASH

    Trayvon Martin Shooter George Zimmerman Misled Court, Has 48 Hours to Surrender | The judge in George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial revoked his bond and ordered him to surrender within 48 hours because he misled the court about his finances. Zimmerman’s wife testified during his original bond hearing that the Zimmermans had limited funds, and failed to disclose that more than $200,000 had been donated to Zimmerman through a website. Prosecutors argued that the Zimmermans conspired to lie about money. Zimmerman also failed to disclose the fact that he had a second passport, which he did not surrender to the court.

    –Alex Brown

    Update

    Read the prosecution’s motion to revoke Zimmerman’s bond here and the transcript of the original bond hearing here.

    Justice

    9 New Pieces Of Evidence In The Trayvon Martin Case

    Last night, state prosecutors released a large amount of evidence — including 183 pages of documents and numerous multimedia files — related to their murder case against George Zimmerman. Here are eight notable pieces evidence that were just made public:

    1. Two days after Trayvon Martin’s death a woman called the police to say that George Zimmerman has “racist tendencies” and is “fully capable of instigating a confrontation.”

    The woman refused to identify herself.

    2. PHOTO: Trayvon Martin’s can of Arizona Iced Tea

    According to the police, Martin’s body was under the yellow tarp in this photo.

    3. The lead police investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter.

    “The encounter between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin was ultimately avoidtable by Zimmerman, if Zimmerman had remained in his vehicle and waitied the arrival of law enforcement, or conversely if he had identified himself to Martin as a concerned citizen and initiated dialogue in an effort to dispel each party’s concern.” The lead investigator wanted to charge Zimmerman with manslaughter notwithstanding the fact he believed it was Zimmerman, not Martin, yelling for help on the 911 tapes.

    Read more

    Justice

    AUDIO: Witness Says George Zimmerman Repeatedly Bullied Him At Work, Targeted Him With Racist Jokes

    Among the evidence in the Trayvon Martin case released by the Florida state prosecutor yesterday was a 15-minute interview with a former work colleague of George Zimmerman. The man, who is not identified by name, says that Zimmerman relentlessly bullied him at work.

    Zimmerman, according to the witness, targeted him because he was Middle Eastern. He repeatedly called the man a “fucking moron” and mocked him using the voice of “Achmed the terrorist.” Zimmerman’s stories about the man would involve “bombing,” “I’ll kill your family” and other “jokes” about “Middle Eastern stuff.” According to the man, this went on “for days and days.”

    Listen:

    After a few months, Zimmerman was terminated. According to the witness, “he was fired for calling HR hotline so many times…he would complain about each and every manager and employee.”

    Zimmerman is currently being investigated by the FBI, who reportedly may charge him with a hate crime.

    Justice

    REPORT: FBI May Charge George Zimmerman With Hate Crime, Could Face Death Penalty

    The State of Florida has charged George Zimmerman with murdering Trayvon Martin. But that might not be the end of his legal problems.

    According to WFTV, an affliate of ABC in Orlando, Zimmerman may soon be charged with a hate crime by the FBI:

    WFTV has learned charges against George Zimmerman could be getting more serious. State prosecutors said Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, profiled and stalked 17-year-old Trayvon Martin before killing him, so the FBI is now looking into charging him with a hate crime. [...]

    FBI investigators are actively questioning witnesses in the retreat at the Twin Lakes neighborhood, seeking evidence for a possible federal hate crime charge.

    WFTV notes that “if Zimmerman is charged and found guilty of a federal hate crime involving murder, he could face the death penalty.” FBI officials confirm to ABC News that the investigation is ongoing but say the “hammer won’t be dropped” anytime soon.

    Most of the evidence against Zimmerman has yet to be disclosed. Late yesterday, Florida prosecution delivered 67 CDs of evidence against Zimmerman to his attorney. Under Florida law, most of it should be available to the public soon.

    Politics

    Zimmerman’s MySpace Page Shows Disparaging Remarks Towards Mexicans, Women

    Picture of George Zimmerman (right) from his MySpace page.

    George Zimmerman, the man charged with second degree murder in the Trayvon Martin case, has been identified by his lawyers as the creator of a seven-year-old MySpace page that may prove to be damaging in court. The page, last updated in 2005, offers a glimpse into Zimmerman’s low opinions of Mexicans and women.

    The Miami Herald first noticed the old profile and lifted some troubling quotes:

    I dont miss driving around scared to hit mexicans walkin on the side of the street, soft ass wanna be thugs messin with peoples cars when they aint around (what are you provin, that you can dent a car when no ones watchin) dont make you a man in my book,” the 2005 Myspace page said. “Workin 96 hours to get a decent pay check, gettin knifes pulled on you by every mexican you run into!”

    In another section of his profile, he refers to his ex-girlfriend as his “ex-hoe,” and alludes to a situation in which his friends, who were imprisoned for an undisclosed crime, didn’t turn him in. “They do a year and dont ever open thier [sic] mouth to get my ass pinched,” he wrote.

    The comments may cast doubt onto his legal team’s insistence that Zimmerman is not an inherently racist person. In the days before his arrest, George Zimmerman’s family defended him against charges of racism by pointing out that he himself is Hispanic and was raised in a multiracial family. But his comments about Mexicans would seem to indicate that his own genealogy had little impact on his disparagement of minorities.

    The MySpace page, which is still up, could pose a problem for Zimmerman’s legal team, who instructed their client to shut down all of his social media profiles and other online holdings to better manage his image. A Twitter account, a separate MySpace page, and a website set up by Zimmerman have all vanished in recent weeks.

    Update

    In response to the Miami Herald article detailing the contents of George Zimmerman’s MySpace page, his legal team has released a statement via their official website criticizing the attention being given to the page. The author of the post also suggests, not too subtly, that continuing to dig into Zimmerman’s history on social sites invites similar scrutiny “of all parties involved,” meaning Trayvon Martin. Of course, supporters of Zimmerman, conservative publications, and white supremacy groups have already combed through Trayvon’s email accounts, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook profiles to find embarrassing or damaging photos and quotes, leave racist messages, and hack into his accounts.

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