George Zimmerman May Apologize to Trayvon Martin’s Family
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Seminole County Sheriff`s Office(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — The lawyer for George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain who was charged with second degree murder in the death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin, said that the 17-year-old’s death “weighs on” Zimmerman and suggested his client might apologize to Martin’s family.
“Understand that George fully well realizes that he was involved in some way in the death of another young man,” lawyer Mark O’Mara told ABC News.
“He does not take the result of that altercation lightly at all. That weighed on him, I would imagine, more than the isolation, more than the last six weeks, more probably than the threat of what is to come in the system,” O’Mara said.
Zimmerman spent his first night in prison Thursday in protective custody, where he could be watched at all times. Law enforcement sources told ABC News, the 28-year-old “wept quite a bit” at night.
O’Mara suggested that Zimmerman may apologize to Martin’s family.
“What I want to happen is for that conversation to occur directly to the family rather than …in the media through me,” the lawyer said.
When asked if he thought Zimmerman would go through with an apology, O’Mara replied, “Yeah, I imagine it would.” He did not know when that might happen.
O’Mara spoke with ABC News after Zimmerman made his first appearance in a Florida court on Thursday. Zimmerman spoke once during the session, answering “Yes, sir” when Judge Mark E. Herr asked whether O’Mara was his attorney.
Zimmerman did not enter a plea and his attorney did not request bond. His formal arraignment is scheduled for May 29.
O’Mara told ABC News he is preparing for a long court battle that could leave Zimmerman in jail for up to a year.
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