A Florida judge on Friday ordered George Zimmerman, the man charged in the killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, to return to jail within 48 hours, saying he deceived the court earlier this year about the true state of his finances.
Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. gave the order after prosecutors provided evidence showing Zimmerman and his wife had essentially hidden about $135,000 from the court during his bond hearing in April. At the time, Zimmerman's family claimed they had little money to pay a bond so the judge granted one that was much lower than what prosecutors asked for.
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On Friday, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda said Zimmerman and his wife had talked about the money in jailhouse phone calls in the days before the bond hearing. He said the couple used code words to try to hide the money from authorities investigating the case.
“We have the jail calls that the defendant made to his wife and to other people…in which he repeatedly tells her about the money, about moving the money and transferring it from one position to another,” de la Rionda said. “They were even using codes…thinking that the police are going to be really stupid when listening to these calls and wouldn’t know what was going on.”
An auspicious beginning to his legal defense — lying to the court.