(CBS/AP) — George Zimmerman has been given a new bond hearing, tentatively scheduled for June 29, reports CBS affiliate WKMG in Orlando. The former neighborhood watch volunteer charged with killing Florida teen Trayvon Martin will now sit in jail for at least a few more weeks.
Mark O’Mara, Zimmerman’s attorney, told WKMG he is preparing to file a new motion for the hearing.
Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder and has pleaded not guilty in the 17-year-old’s death, returned to custody on Sunday, two days after his $150,000 bond was revoked. Prosecutors argued Zimmerman and his wife misled a judge about how much money they had to put up for the bond.
At the initial bail hearing, Shellie Zimmerman testified that the couple had limited funds for bail because she was a full-time student and her husband wasn’t working. Prosecutors say Zimmerman actually had raised $135,000 in donations from a website he created.
“I think it was out of fear, and maybe some frustration with having their lives turned completely upside-down and not having a good level of trust with anyone that they were dealing with. But I think they realize it was a mistake. They look forward to the opportunity to clearing that up with [Circuit Judge Kenneth] Lester,” O’Mara said on “CBS This Morning” Monday, adding that he thought the Zimmerman family should apologize to the court for not being straightforward about their finances.
“I think they were just acting out of fear and frustration, but they don’t have that luxury,” he said.
Zimmerman has claimed self-defense in the deadly a confrontation in a Sanford, Fla., gated community where Zimmerman lived and where Martin was visiting. The delay in his arrest for 44 days led to protests nationwide and led to intense debate about self-defense laws and race. Martin was black; Zimmerman’s father is white and his mother is from Peru.
Prosecutor Bernie De la Rionda presented to the judge last week a partial transcript of telephone conversations Zimmerman had with his wife from jail, days before the April 20 bond hearing. Zimmerman and his wife discussed the amount of money raised from the website, and Zimmerman spoke in code to tell his wife how to make fund transfers, according to the transcript. The code referred to amounts of “$15″ in place of “$150,000.”
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