When we mentioned George Zimmerman’s big social-media launch about a month ago, we knew then he’d lied to the court during his bond hearing about being indigent, and unable to pay a high bond. The killer of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin raised over $200,000 from supporters via his earlier, cruder website. Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara, used the new website to raise over $15,000 (at last report) for his defense, proving that a slick new website didn’t matter as much as grassroots fervor.
Prosecutors concentrated on the earlier amount, alleging that Zimmerman and his wife conspired to keep the money hidden. Today, we learned that Zimmerman will pay for that lie with his freedom. Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester has revoked Zimmerman’s bond, saying of Zimmerman and his wife that “they were welll aware of the money that was available.” From the Orlando Sentinel‘s report:
“Defendant has intentionally deceived the court with the assistance of his wife,” the motion says. “During the jail phone calls both of them spoke in code to hide what they were doing.” Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda told the judge today that “this court was led to believe that they didn’t have a single penny” at the earlier bond hearing.
Zimmerman’s wife “flat out lied to this court,”de la Rionda said. Lester agreed, revoking Zimmerman’s bond. He must turn himself in, the judge said.
Zimmerman has 48 hours to do so, per the AP. It was also revealed that Zimmerman had not relinquished a second U.S. passport, as ordered by the court, and that Judge Lester wasn’t swayed by the defense’s excuse: that he thought he’d lost the first one.
The defense alleges that this all was an “innocent misunderstanding.” You might recall that this isn’t the first time that O’Mara learned something new and unfortunate about his client on the fly; he alleges that he didn’t know about the more than $200,000, either. And keep in mind that, per the Sentinel report, prosecutor Angela Corey withheld quite a bit of evidence from her release a couple weeks ago, something O’Mara used the George Zimmerman Legal Case website to complain about.
I’d no wonder he’s so eager to learn more about his client, if only to see just how many more “misunderstandings” lie in wait.
Update: The breaking news as it aired on msnbc’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” is below, after the jump.
Jamil Smith