As George Zimmerman’s defense continues to prepare a case in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, the defendant’s behavior seems to be cast in an increasingly unflattering light.
Zimmerman recently had his bail revoked when it came to light in court that he had originally concealed the amount of money collected via a website he set up for donations to go toward his legal defense in the case. It was also determined that Zimmerman fudged the truth when it came to the matter of his passport, which he mentioned had been lost but failed to add that a second, replacement passport had been obtained to replace the first one.
On Friday, Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Lester ordered that George Zimmerman be remanded into custody after a hearing in part concerning the funds collected via the internet and Zimmerman’s subterfuge. But the entire incident could be damaging to George Zimmerman’s defense , as a jury’s perception of the events the night Trayvon Martin was shot and killed on a Florida street hinge almost entirely on the defendant’s account of the evening.
As expected, Zimmerman’s attorney has already begun backpeddling to counteract that damage. Lawyer Mark O’Mara was quoted by a local news source, making a somewhat weaselly attempt (even in his own words) to “explain away” the whole lying to the court thing:
“[Zimmerman] is in custody now… He’s going to remain there until we get back before Judge Lester if and when he grants us a bond hearing. It sounded like he might consider it. But that is going to be based upon the motion itself… Again, (we are) just hoping that the judge will give us an audience so we can further explain away why what happened seems to have happened.”
O’Mara, the site explains, says Zimmerman was “confused and fearful when he allowed his wife to mislead court officials about the couple’s finances,” but probably not as confused and fearful as Trayvon Martin was the night some creeper followed him home from the store and shot him right in the chest.