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Megaprimatus kong ([info]spawn_of_kong) wrote in [info]unfunnybusiness,
@ 2012-04-26 21:32:00


Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Current mood: sick

...SERIOUSLY?!
"Donations pour in to Trayvon Martin's killer."

(CNN) -- The lawyer for the neighborhood watch leader who fatally shot unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, said Thursday that his client has received about $200,000 from supporters.

Orlando lawyer Mark O'Mara told CNN's "AC360" that George Zimmerman told him Wednesday of the donations as they were trying to shut down his Internet presence to avoid concerns about possible impersonators and problems with his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

"He asked me what to do with his PayPal accounts and I asked him what he was talking about," O'Mara told Anderson Cooper. "And he said those were the accounts that had the money from the website he had. And there was about 200, $204,000 that had come in to date."

O'Mara had said earlier this month that he believed Zimmerman had no money. "I think he's indigent for costs," he said, adding that Zimmerman's relatives had few assets.

Zimmerman, 28, was released Monday on $150,000 bail, 10% of which his family put up to secure his release. He is accused of second-degree murder in the February 26 death of Martin, who was African-American. Critics have accused him of racially profiling Martin and unjustly killing him. He has said he shot in self-defense.

Asked whether knowledge of the money might have made a difference to Judge Kenneth Lester Jr., who presided at Zimmerman's bond hearing, O'Mara said, "It might have."

O'Mara continued, "I'm certainly going to disclose it to the court tomorrow -- coincidentally, we have a hearing."

He said he was prepared to "deal with any fallout," but predicted Lester would not feel misled. "I told him what I knew at the time, which was exactly what I was aware of."

The money has been placed in a secure account since O'Mara learned about it, he said, adding, "Nobody's touching it until we figure out how to handle it."

But criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos said Lester might not react benignly. "I know a lot of judges who would remand the guy back into custody immediately," he said. "If you've got more money stashed in an account and you could just pay the bond and be gone, that gives a lot of judges concern."

Though the account has been closed, O'Mara said he intends to open a legal defense fund for Zimmerman. "I've had dozens, hundreds actually, of people wanting to donate," he said.

O'Mara, who said he charges $400 per hour for family law cases, estimated Zimmerman's defense costs could reach $1 million. "You can really go through a lot of money on a case like this, with the intensity of it," he said.

Although details of the shooting remain murky, it is known that Martin ventured out from the Sanford home of his father's fiancee and went to a nearby convenience store, where he bought a bag of candy and an iced tea.

On his way back, he had a confrontation with Zimmerman, who shot him.

Zimmerman had called 911 to complain about a suspicious person in the neighborhood, according to authorities.

In the call, Zimmerman said he was following Martin after the teen started to run, prompting the dispatcher to tell him, "We don't need you to do that." Zimmerman pursued Martin anyway but then said he lost sight of him.

According to an Orlando Sentinel story later confirmed by Sanford police, Zimmerman told authorities that after he briefly lost track of Martin, the teen approached him. After the two exchanged words, Zimmerman said, he reached for his cell phone, and then Martin punched him in the nose. Zimmerman said Martin pinned him to the ground and began slamming his head onto the sidewalk, leading to the shooting.

Police have said Zimmerman was not immediately charged because there was no evidence to disprove his account that he'd acted in self-defense. A police report indicated he was bleeding from the nose and the back of his head.


Whatever you do, stay away from the comments.



(Post a new comment)


[info]quantumreality
2012-04-27 02:52 am UTC (link)
Wut.

(Reply to this)


[info]sandglass
2012-04-27 03:15 am UTC (link)
It is absolutely horrific. I hope the judge throws him in jail for the duration of the trial, after that stunt.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]kaen
2012-04-27 09:26 pm UTC (link)
Even though it won't help him end up in jail like he deserves, I'm also pettily hoping that his family ends up really pissed off at him over this, if they needed to struggle to get together the bail they paid.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]freezer
2012-04-27 09:46 pm UTC (link)
Zimmerman showed poor decision making skills? The hell you say!

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]varkias
2012-04-27 06:54 pm UTC (link)
Christ. D: I am unfortunately related to people who are disgusted with this trial for all the wrong reasons, and believe it is 'ridiculous' because of course, racism doesn't exist anymore! There's no such thing as hate crimes! Of course it was self-defense, what else could it be?

So I've heard far too much of that. :/ But people actually supporting Zimmerman to the point of sending him money...that is sickening.

(Reply to this)


[info]pantyless_angel
2012-04-27 07:37 pm UTC (link)
This is so disgusting. And I am so sick of all the jack-asses screaming "What about this case or that case where this black person did this or that to this white person!?!?"

You know what people? None of those cases took large protest lasting how long was it now? to get the police to stop looking the other fucking way when an adult man who should not have had a fucking gun, he sure as hell didn't need, shot and killed and unarmed teenage boy he should have just left the fuck alone! And I'm going to say it. If the child killed had been white, Zimmerman would have been in that day.

I imagine if he hadn't had that gun the coward never would have followed the boy in the first place. I have no problem people owning guns as long as they are responsible with them, Zimmerman sure as hell wasn't.

...Ok I need to go do something else till I calm down.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

Icon not related, hopefully soothing.
[info]freezer
2012-04-27 09:54 pm UTC (link)
And I am so sick of all the jack-asses screaming "What about this case or that case where this black person did this or that to this white person!?!?"

I got into a long, trying-damn-hard-to-be-civil discussion with someone in another forum over just that. He brought up two particular cases with white victims and (alleged) minority perpetrators. One case had no suspects and in the other (a brutal double murder), all the defendants were caught tried and sentenced (including a death sentence and two life sentences). Folks like that like to utterly ignore the fact that the real uproar over the Zimmerman case is the amount of time the local authorities spent twiddling their thumbs while this case sat on their desks (with the cops gleefully telling everyone that they presented their case, it's up to the County DAs).

If Zimmerman had been charged in two weeks instead of two months, this case would be a sad footnote in "Post-Racial America" and the debate over "Stand Your Ground" laws, ,rather than an international cause celeb.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

Re: Icon not related, hopefully soothing.
[info]varkias
2012-04-27 10:53 pm UTC (link)
This. It's utterly insane the things that people are disregarding in their comparisons.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

Re: Icon not related, hopefully soothing.
[info]kookaburra
2012-04-28 06:15 am UTC (link)
Exactly - the whole point of the outrage was not to say that he should be found *guilty*, but that he should go to *trial* just like someone who killed a white kid would.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]full_metal_ox
2012-04-28 09:36 pm UTC (link)
I have no problem people owning guns as long as they are responsible with them, Zimmerman sure as hell wasn't.

"Well-regulated" is the part that seems to keep going missing in the wash.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]mmanurere
2012-04-29 05:30 pm UTC (link)
We lost that part when the first half of the Second Amendment was declared decorative.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]chikane
2012-04-27 07:53 pm UTC (link)
Sending a (possible, whatever) racist murderer money: Evidently something people prefer doing over just, like, being decent people.

But then Fox&CO are already drumming this up as a political thing, so...

Those 200k could have gone to something useful. But no, better make sure that a murderer of a non-white person doesn't even have discomfort.

(Reply to this)


[info]amadi
2012-04-28 03:06 am UTC (link)
The fund set up for Trayvon's family's legal expenses has gathered about 1/8th of Zimmerman's fund. Of course they haven't set up a self-aggrandizing lie-laden begging website...

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]quantumreality
2012-04-28 03:54 am UTC (link)
Link?

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]amadi
2012-04-28 05:06 am UTC (link)
Because they don't have a website, I don't have one. Their attorney was talking about it on Twitter a couple of days ago. (@AttorneyCrump)

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]quantumreality
2012-04-28 06:54 am UTC (link)
Ah. :)

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]staroverthebay
2012-04-29 01:25 am UTC (link)
O'Mara said he intends to open a legal defense fund for Zimmerman

WHY? WHY does Zimmerman need a legal defense fund? His defense is guaranteed to him by the fucking SIXTH AMENDMENT. I did a real quick Wikipedia search to find this, it took all of maybe fifteen seconds to find the right page, it's NOT HARD TO FIND THIS OUT.

Every single person accused of any crime at all has the right to an attorney. Any accused can hire their own attorney; however, if they cannot afford one, a defense attorney can and will be provided, without fail. You don't need to know the Bill of Rights in minute detail to know that even someone who freely confesses to a crime is still under protection, still legally innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.

By law, anyone accused of a crime is entitled to a legal representative in a trial. They aren't screwed out of defense if they lack the funds to hire a defense attorney! THE STATE WILL PROVIDE ONE FOR THEM. That's part of the entire system. It's MENTIONED in the Miranda Rights (or whatever the official term is for the thing police are required to say when they make an arrest). There's no way Zimmerman didn't know that he would be provided an adequate defense.

HE DOES NOT NEED PEOPLE TO GIVE HIM MONEY SO HE CAN PAY FOR AN ATTORNEY TO DEFEND HIM.

I don't get it. I don't get it at all.

I kind of hope that every last cent that is, was or will be "donated" to the "defense fund" is turned around in the end and either returned to the donators, or given to the family of the victim as a form of restitution once Zimmerman is convicted. The money won't bring the boy back or ease the family's pain, but at the very least, if ANYONE should benefit financially from this whole fiasco, it should be the family who lost their child.

No one, convicted or not, involved or not, should be allowed to make a single cent in profit from ANY crime. Least of all a person accused of committing murder.

(Reply to this)(Thread)


[info]mistal
2012-04-29 03:21 am UTC (link)
Yes, everyone is allowed a lawyer, but the more money you have the better of a lawyer you can hire. It's not that he needs it, it's that he wants it.
Plus, chances are that whatever money he gets in his "defense fund" will be used to pay the lawyer(s) and the court.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)


[info]argylespy
2012-05-01 01:50 am UTC (link)
This. I can't blame anyone for preferring to try and raise money to buy a defense lawyer rather than relying on the one working for the court system.

Blaming them for keeping this information from their lawyer when said lawyer, it sounds like at least, specifically asked about his money situation implying that it has little to do with legal funds? That I can blame them for.

(Reply to this)(Parent)


[info]roachspit
2012-04-29 02:56 am UTC (link)
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

(Reply to this)


 
   
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