Sanford, Florida: George Zimmerman along his wife was preparing to flee the US with $130,000 donated by supporters while he was on bail awaiting his murder trial for the death of Trayvon Martin, a Florida judge, Kenneth Lester, wrote today.
Zimmerman, whose bail was raised to $1 million, “was preparing to flee to avoid prosecution, but such plans were thwarted,” Lester wrote in the bond order released today, ABC News reported.
Lester said that Zimmerman “flaunted the system,” by misleading the court about how much cash he and his wife had in bank accounts.
Zimmerman was out on $150,000 bond when the ruse was discovered by prosecutors. He had been charged in April with second-degree murder for killing the unarmed 17-year-old in February.
“It is entirely reasonable for this court to find that, but for the requirement that he be placed on electronic monitoring, the defendant and his wife would have fled the United States with at least $130,000 of other people’s money,” Lester wrote.
“The defendant also neglected to disclose that he had a valid second passport in his safe deposit box. Notably, together with the passport, the money only had to be hidden for a short time for him to leave the country if the defendant made a quick decision to flee,” the judge wrote.
Prosecutors declined to comment on Lester’s order.
Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara, declined to comment to ABC News but released a statement today saying that Zimmerman planned to use the money in his legal defense fund to post bond and that the fund needed more money in order to mount a successful defense.
“While it may seem that there is a lot of money in in the fund, this will be a very expensive case to defend and it is clear that the fight will be long and hard,” the statement read. “Now is the time to show your support.”
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