George Zimmerman received $204,000 in donations to his legal fund, his lawyer said Thursday, a disclosure that could land the neighborhood watch volunteer back in jail.
Attorney Mark O’Mara told CNN that he didn’t learn of the donations until Wednesday when he was shutting down the TheRealGeorgeZimmerman.com website that Zimmerman had created earlier this year to raise money for his defense. “He asked me what to do with his PayPal accounts, and I asked him what he was talking about,” O’Mara explained.
A week earlier Zimmerman’s family argued that it they didn’t have enough assets to pay his bond.
The new development could prompt Seminole County Circuit Judge Kenneth R Lester Jr to increase the $150,000 bond he set earlier – though the judge said that he wanted to know more about who controls the money before ruling on the matter.
Zimmerman was released early Monday after paying 10 percent of the bail with money from his family, and O’Mara didn’t have an answer for why the donations weren’t used instead.
The lawyer representing Trayvon Martin’s family, Benjamin Crump, quickly called for the court to revoke Zimmerman’s bond immediately for “misleading” the judge on his financial situation. Crump and others believe Zimmerman’s bail would have been set higher had the funds been disclosed.
O’Mara formally disclosed the donations at a Friday morning hearing originally intended to handle issues surrounding the unsealing of Zimmerman’s criminal file. The state asked Judge Kenneth Lester Jr to increase Zimmerman’s bond but Lester said he would delay the request while he investigates further whether he has the authority to do so. “I’m not going to make a snap decision,” he said.
Zimmerman’s fundraising website has since been taken down, although O’Mara said he’d start a new defense fund for his client, whose legal bills could top $1 million when all is said and done.
Zimmerman faces life in prison on charges of second degree murder for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed. Zimmerman claims he acted in self-defense.
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