In light of new shocking evidence on Friday, a Florida judge has revoked George Zimmerman’s bond. The 28 year-old charged with second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, was ordered to surrender no later than Sunday afternoon. The decision came after Seminole County Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. accused Zimmerman and his wife of lying under oath when his bond was originally set on April 20, 2012. Prosecutors allege that Zimmerman and his wife Shellie, misled the court into believing that they were indigent and hid the fact that they had raised over $200,000 through a PayPal account set up to collect donations.
CNN reports:
“The defense, through Mrs. Zimmerman, lied to this court about the amount of money that they had,” said trial prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda. “I don’t know what words to use other than it was a blatant lie.”
Outside the courthouse, a lawyer for the family of Martin said Friday’s decision is significant. “Judge Lester’s finding that George Zimmerman was dishonest is very important because his credibility is the most important thing in this entire case,” Benjamin Crump told reporters.
Court documents provided a partial transcript of a phone call allegedly showing the codes used by Zimmerman and his wife on April 16th to hide assets:
Zimmerman: “In my account do I have at least $100?”
His wife: “No.”
Zimmerman: “How close am I?”
His wife: “$8. $8.60.”
Zimmerman: “Really. So total everything how much are we looking at?”
His wife: “Like $155.”
The prosecutor said Zimmerman and with the assistance of his wife intentionally deceived the courts and the judge “relied on false representations and statements” by the couple when the court set his bond at $150,000. This is significant because he was required to post only 10% of that.
Lester is fuming that the court had not been told about the money in addition to a second passport he has hidden. “Does your client get to sit there like a potted palm and let you lead me down the primrose path?” he asked Zimmerman’s lawyer. “That’s the issue.” This obviously will be a point of contention when the jury is selected in Zimmerman’s upcoming trial as he has already been depicted as a liar who will go to great levels of deceiving the criminal justice process… to wit, lying at his bond hearing. Watch as the coffin steadily closes in the case of Zimmerman vs. State of Florida.
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