Sunday, June 3, 2012

Zimmerman ordered to jail by Sunday

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Judge revokes George Zimmerman's bond
  • A Florida judge sets a Sunday afternoon deadline for George Zimmerman to surrender
  • The judge revokes bail after a ruling that Zimmerman misled the court
  • Zimmerman is accused of killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin

(CNN) -- George Zimmerman, who faces second-degree murder in the death of Trayvon Martin, has until Sunday afternoon to surrender to authorities after a judge revoked his bond for misleading the court about his finances.

Seminole County Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. ordered him back to jail, saying the 28-year-old was not truthful about how much money he had access to when he was freed on bond in April.

Lester's ruling on Friday followed allegations by prosecutors that Zimmerman had $135,000. At the time, his wife told the court under oath that the family was indigent.

Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, is accused of shooting the black teenager in a gated community in Sanford in February, a killing that he has said was in self-defense.

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Martin's family contends that he racially profiled the 17-year-old who was walking home from a convenience store.

Zimmerman was charged in April after the case was referred to a state attorney for a review after protesters called for his arrest.

The money in question appears to have been donated to Zimmerman through a website he set up to help with a legal defense fund.

Citing recorded jailhouse conversations between Zimmerman and his wife, prosecutors alleged the two spoke in code when discussing the money in a credit union account, according to a court documents filed Friday by State Attorney Angela B. Corey.

In light of that, Lester revoked Zimmerman's bond and ordered he turn himself in no later than Sunday afternoon.

Zimmerman "fully controlled and participated in the transfer of money from the PayPal account to defendant and his wife's credit union accounts," Corey said in court records. "This occurred prior to the time defendant was arguing to the court that he was indigent and his wife had no money."

Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's attorney, said in April that the money raised by the website was put into a trust account that the attorney controls.

But in court documents, Corey said the money still belongs to the defendant.

The judge "relied on false representations and statements" by Zimmerman and his wife when the court set his bond at $150,000, Corey said. Zimmerman was required to post only 10% of that.

Corey argued that the court should revoke the bond or increase it.

Lester appeared angry that the court had not been told about the money.

"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."

O'Mara said he had discussed the judge's decision with Zimmerman, who was not in court.

"He's frustrated because he now has to come out of hiding," O'Mara told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"You need to realize we're still talking about a 28-year-old who's being charged with a crime he does not believe he committed, and his whole life has been turned upside down, so I think that it all needs to be kept in context."