George Zimmerman Hopes to Go Free at Bond Hearing - East Idaho News
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George Zimmerman Hopes to Go Free at Bond Hearing

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041212 GeorgeZimmermanCourt1?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1340972631584ABC News(SANFORD, Fla.) — George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman charged with murder in the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, hopes a judge will agree to let him out of jail on Friday.

Zimmerman, 28, will appear in court Friday morning at a bail hearing and faces the prospect of a prolonged stay in jail if his plea is rejected.

It is Zimmerman’s second appearance before Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester.  During the last one on April 20, he sat stone-faced as his wife brazenly lied to the court about the Zimmermans’ finances.

Zimmerman’s wife, Shellie Zimmerman, told the judge she was essentially broke, when in the days leading up to that hearing, she and her husband held clumsily-coded jailhouse conversations about shuffling to various accounts $135,000 in cash amassed from donations to Zimmermans website.  Audio tapes of the hushed jailhouse conversations were released earlier this month.

Shellie Zimmerman has been charged with perjury.

Orlando defense attorney Mark Lippman said that whether or not Lester grants George Zimmerman bail, he is likely to “receive a tongue-lashing from the judge.”

It is also expected that if the normally stern judge grants Zimmerman bail, the bond would be much higher than his previous bond of $150,000. Typically, bail bondsmen charge 10 percent of the total bond.

Zimmerman shot Martin, 17, on Feb. 26.  The teenager was unarmed, but Zimmerman claims he was knocked down and shot Martin in self defense when they both went for Zimmerman’s gun.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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