florida

courtesy of reuters slideshow

photo credit:  reuters/pool

george zimmerman in court, april 20, 2012,

for a bail hearing, and for murder in the 2nd degree, 

in the killing of unarmed minor, trayvon martin 

george zimmerman made his first public appearance in court today where florida judge kenneth lester set bail at $150,000 in a two-hour hearing described as "sometimes contentious."  defense requested bail set at $15,000, and prosecutors who opposed his release at all, suggested bail set at a million.

zimmerman made an apology statement to the family, claiming that he didn't know how young trayvon was, and whether or not he was armed, while zimmerman's wife, questioned by the judge by telephone, said that she did not believe her husband was violent.  his wife - who doesn't know that he's violent - is entrusted with contacting authorities if he disappears. 

does the judge think she'll notice if he does? 

the los angeles times reports that

attorneys for the state repeatedly brought up two incidents from Zimmerman's past. The first was an arrest for assaulting an undercover officer during an underage-drinking crackdown; the second was an injunction filed by a former girlfriend who said Zimmerman struck her.

still, said zimmerman's father in more theatre of the absurd, and in another telephone testimony for the hearing - (another family member the court hopes will keep an eye out?) - "I've never known him to be violent at all, unless he was provoked, and then he would turn the other cheek."

bang.

according to the new york times, zimmerman will be released in several days pending arrangement of electronic monitoring. he is only confined to his residence during the evening, and only responsible for contacting authorities every three days.  his attorney even requested permission to leave the state, a matter the florida judge refered to .. their local police department?  for the time being, the judge finally took away zimmerman's gun rights.

benjamin crump, attorney for the trayvon martin family, said the family was "completely devastated" by the bail decision.  he said that tracy martin had tears in his eyes throughout the hearing. 

"And it was devastating that he [zimmerman] got to give a self-serving apology to help him get a bond," said Attorney Crump. "They (the parents) were very outraged at that."

courtesy of the new york times

photographer:  Brian Blanco/European Pressphoto Agency

Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's parents, attend the bail hearing for George Zimmerman on Friday.   Family attorney Benjamin Crump in the red tie.

reuters reports:

Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda was limited in his cross-examination of Zimmerman to the apology and prohibited from delving into the facts of the case. But he made a point of locking Zimmerman into his statement that he also told police he "felt sorry for the family" about the death of Trayvon.

Zimmerman also testified he never changed his story in three separate statements to police.

the los angeles times reports that zimmerman's lawyer focused on the state's probable cause affidavit:

The affidavit says Zimmerman "confronted" Martin, after which a struggle ensued. In a likely preview of the defense strategy at trial, O'Mara questioned the use of the word "confronted."

"Do you know who started the fight?" he asked the investigator at one point.

"Do I know? No," Gilbreath said.

"Do you have any evidence that supports who may have started the fight?"

"No" Gilbreath said.

school yards vs murder

excuse me, but was there "a fight"? 

zimmerman's lawyer makes it sound like a school yard altercation with two parties in the wrong. 

not to mention that, even in a school yard altercation, if a bully attacks a student at school and beats him up - is there "a fight," or just a bully who beats someone up?

similarly, but much more serious, of course - we don't have "a fight" - we have a killer and a victim.

there's only one person who commited a crime here:  a grown man (uh - accountable under the law) with a gun - his client, george zimmerman, and in the course of stalking an innocent, unarmed teenager walking home, talking with a friend on the phone, with some skittles and a can of ice tea. 

his client - also disobeying a direct instruction by the police not to follow.