Zimmerman Released on Bond
Monday, April 23, 2012
By: Tom Parkinson

WMFE | April, 23, 2012 - The man who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is out of jail. George Zimmerman was released from the Seminole County jail early Monday morning on a $150,000 bond. He will be free as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for shooting the unarmed teenager in Sanford in late February. Zimmerman told police he had acted in self defense.

It’s unclear where the 28-year-old is will stay as he awaits his second-degree murder trial. Zimmerman’s attorney says he will be in a secret location for his safety. His attorneys requested that he be allowed to reside out of state, since they say there are continuing threats against his life.
As part of the conditions for his release on bond, Zimmerman cannot have any firearms, must abstain from drugs and alcohol and observe a 7:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew. He was also fitted with a GPS tracking device.

In court Friday, Zimmerman apologized to the parents of Trayvon Martin but their attorney, Benjamin Crump, called the apology "self-serving." Crump says Martin’s family opposed letting Zimmerman bond out of jail while awaiting trial. They say he has demonstrated that he is violent and dangerous.

Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer in late February when he shot the teenager in a confrontation as the unarmed teen was walking from a nearby store. Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense has touched off a national debate about racial profiling, civil rights, and self-defense gun laws.