George "Whitey" Zimmerman
Zimmerman’s family to testify via phone at bond hearing, Martin’s parents to attend
George Zimmerman’s family will testify by phone at a Friday bond hearing in the Trayvon Martin murder case, while his young victim’s parents will be there in person.
Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara will ask for his client’s release on bond at a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. in Sanford, Fla.
Zimmerman, 28, was charged last week with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Martin.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, O’Mara filed an unopposed motion Thursday “to allow telephonic testimony from family members” at the bond hearing.
A family source confirmed to FOX News Channel that Martin’s parents — Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton — will attend the hearing.
If prosecutors oppose Zimmerman’s release on bond, they are required to present evidence against the 28-year-old on why he should remain behind bars throughout his trial.
Seminole Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester will preside over Friday’s hearing. Lester replaced Judge Jessica Recksiedler Wednesday after she recused herself because of her connection to a lawyer hired to provide commentary on the case for CNN.
Factors in whether Zimmerman will get bail include whether he poses a flight risk and is a danger to the community. Legal analyst Mark Geragos told CNN Thursday of Zimmerman’s quest for release, “All things considered, I think it is likely.”
“Bail” is the term for money or property pledged to guarantee a criminal defendant’s appearance at court. Because defendant’s are presumed innocent, pretrial confinement is permitted only in limited circumstances. The 8th Amendment prohibits excessive bails.
The amount of bail is up to the judge. In determining the amount of bail the judge is supposed to consider the seriousness of the offense, the weight of the evidence and the defendant’s ties to the community. The judge will also consider the defendant’s prior performance on bail, if any.
In this case the defendant (Zimmerman) is not accused of a capital crime but he is facing a possible life sentence. The evidence presented thus far is slim. He has lived in the community and has family there as well. There is no evidence of him failing to appear in court in the past, and he voluntarily surrendered.
I’m guessing the court will set bail somewhere between $250,000 and half a million. Normally a bondsman will want 10% of the bail amount as their fee, but they may agree to issue a bond with a substantially smaller deposit if there are co-signers with good credit.
UPDATE:
Bail granted for George Zimmerman in the amount of $150,000 ($15,000 cash) with ankle monitoring and other restrictions. He will be allowed to leave the state.
Filed under: Crime Tagged: | Crime, People v. George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin
I think he will get bail. Slowly but surely the case is imploding. Little drips of information are coming out and they are not helping the prosecution.
OT but very interesting.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/two-senior-secret-service-officers-in-colombia-scandal-identified/2012/04/19/gIQAmIt7TT_story.html?hpid=z1
“One of the Secret Service supervisors ousted from the agency this week for their involvement in the Colombia prostitution scandal made light of his official protective work on his Facebook page, joking about a picture of himself standing watch behind Sarah Palin.
David Randall Chaney, 48, posted several shots of himself on duty in a dark suit and sunglasses, including one that shows him behind the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee during that campaign.
“I was really checking her out, if you know what i mean?” Chaney wrote in the comments section after friends had marveled at the photo. He is married and has an adult son.”
So a Secret Service supervisor is another moron who can’t keep his horndog musings off of social media. Did he rate his hooker too? I hope she was worth his career. I am sure Plouffe can find a slot for another misogynist in the campaign.
Fantastic response from Palin on Greta here (video at link)
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1572097617001/
She goes on to say that boy’s will be boys but should NOT be in positions of authority and “I’m tired of men being dogs.”
Oh yeah, she’s definitely hammering the dog-eating theme.
Check out the rest of the interview too.
Jeralyn:
Bail hearing live on CNN
O’Mara grilling the investigator. He signed off on the affidavit but he apparently knows very little.
Prosecutor cross-exam of investigator.
Investigator’s memory has improved.
Funny that.
Zimmerman’s lawyer is damn good.
I’ve seen better.
At least he doesn’t eat dogs.
Re-direct:
Do you know who started the fight?
“No”
Do you have any evidence that conflicts with his (Zimmerman’s) statement that he had turned around and was returning to his car?
“No”
Do you have any evidence that conflicts with his (Zimmerman’s) statement that martin threw the first punch?
“No”
If the whole prosecution doesn’t have evidence of either of these, it’s hard to see self defense not winning the day.
Recross
Investigator says there were inconsistancies in Zimmerman’s statments. Not very specific as to what they were.
Redirect:
Where Zimmerman’s injuries consistent with his statement?
“Yes”
I just got called a racist on twitter for saying that Zimmerman said “punk” not “coon” and he is brown not white.
It made me laugh being being called racist is so retro now.
Love it. So saying someone of color is, well, someone of color and not white is now racist. Soooo, if someone says Obama is black instead of white-black or white, shouldn’t they be a racist too.
It’s becoming more strident, as the race-baiters don’t get the expected apologetic response anymore when they fling that word at people.
It’s really an admission of defeat at this point -they ‘ve lost the argument so all they can say is “racist”!
My reply: I guess I must be racist since I didn’t vote for a Dog Eater.
If you’re not for eating dogs, you must hate cats.
I can’t even comment outside of the crime boards because I’m so pissed off. The race fetishists are completely effin’ nuts. After I pointed out the malicious arrogance of white people deeming Zimmerman an honorary white guy just to string him up for the sins of the white nation, one of them actually responded, and I paraphrase: It doesn’t matter if Zimmerman is brown, he can still “think white.” WTF is “think white”??? Do these race-obsessed wankers really believe that to “think white” is to be a racist, i.e., it is the natural state of the “white” brain to be racist? That’s crazy, freakin’ eugenics talk. These people need to go back on their meds, starting immediately.
Zimmerman testifies – says he is sorry for Martin’s parents.
Both sides argue for/against bail
Ruling:
Bail set at $150,000 with ankle monitoring.
So that’s a $1,500 bond. Not bad.
$15,000
Oops. I’m only on my second cofffee.
That’s really low for a second degree murder case.
Sure looked like most likely self defense from what was shown and discussed. Perhaps the prosecution is keeping their cards close to the vest, or perhaps they got nothing.
Is that a reasonable bail for the next level down charge, which this most likely should have been anyway?
That sounds fair for involuntary manslaughter.
Hopefully he has a safe place to stay.
I’m worried about his safety too. The “civil tone” on the left is non-existent, and I don’t hear Sharpton and Jackson calling for peace because the system is working now. And that Bounty sh*t has got to stop !
jtLOL: It just occurred to me that @MichelleObama will need to think twice before telling US what to eat. What a great week this has been.
Jorge cleans up pretty nice, hubba, hubba /cougar mode
http://nation.foxnews.com/george-zimmerman/2012/04/20/zimmerman-speaks-first-time
That was part of the defense strategy. Everyone has seen Jumpsuit George. Now they can see soft-spoken husband/father/insurance salesman George.
#KillZimmerman was trending on Twitter shortly after the hearing. So yeah, I hope he has somewhere safe to stay. And I am disgusted with what the race-pimps have wrought in my country.
lets hope he gets a fair trial.and then this can be resolved.
This will never be resolved.
if ABC has released this photo earlier maybe some of the phony outcry by the racebaiters could have been silenced
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/20/Zimmerman-bloody-head
Jezebel:
Fair and balanced
LOL! Where to begin? The gun was registered. And if it is unlikely to attack someone while on the phone with your girlfriend, then how much more unlikely is it to stalk and shoot someone while on the phone with police? That’s some real vigilanteism right there.
As for previous violent encounters – he was never charged and convicted of a thing. My own husband, the most gentle, non-violent man you ever met in your life, had a restraining order put on him by his ex. Just because she wanted to fuck with him. I personally have heard women threatening men that they would “say you hit me” if they didn’t do X.
I am very supportive of women in violent situations. But I have been in the world too long to just assume that no woman would possibly lie about shit like that. They do. All the time.