Typically your finances are one factor involved in bail hearings. The underlying theory is that the court wants to balance possible financial costs for skipping bail on more serious charges. I do believe the bail would have been higher had the judge known of the additional money. The fact that this happened when Zimmerman had counsel tells me that he is not being entirely honest with his lawyer. They are making an example of his wife because the world is watching. Many times charges are not filed against the spouse under similar circumstances. This case just keeps getting more and more of a circus.
20/20 hindsight. Put yourself in the shoes of his wife. Your husband is accused of murder. You have no money for a defense. You don't know what to do. She testified she did not know how much money was in the account. At the time of the bail hearing, did she know? Was the phone conversation before or after the hearing?
I wouldn't lie to the court. I wouldn't try to move money around. Of course, I'm an honest person and I'm not an idiot. Obviously Mrs. Zimmerman is dishonest and an idiot.
Yes, there are many factors for determining bail. Many times bails are excessive. The primary concern for a bail is flight risk. Its quite silly to put a strong focus on finances. Zimmermans original bail was not excessive and seems to be on par with the circumstances surrounding the case. If he goes through a bondsman, he doesn't get his 10% back.
Because she potentially committed perjury. Not because she had more money. Who files the charges of perjury? The court or the state? My bet is the state. Angela Corey is so flustered she f'ed up this case that she is going after anyone and anything that can tarnish the credibility of the defendants.
Sorry, but my significant other doesn't carry a gun and shoot people walking in the neighborhood. I'm not to concerned. It is easy to say that any time. Lying during a bond hearing is stupid. She wasn't protecting anything. If they were concerned about that money being for legal fees, they could pre-pay the lawyer. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Then they definitely wouldn't have the cash. Now, it would be a different story, if we were talking about lying on something that matters to whether or not somebody I love was going to be in prison and I didn't have a very obvious paper trail. Although if I had something damning, I'd probably refuse to testify and risk being held in contempt.
You're awesome. Bail has nothing to do with your finances, lying doesn't mean anything in court. What next? Murder doesn't matter either? Jeez, he only shot the guy, cmon now.
But are they being dishonest? "Facts" and "honesty" can be different. If Mrs Zimmerman answered honestly and said an estimate or a range, then that could potentially put her in a position of stating "facts" if she is incorrect. If Mr Zimmerman stated up front of how much cash he had raised but did not know the legal ramification of the ownership or use of the money or actually having immediate access, I can see why he wouldn't openly claim it in court.
You may not have done the same thing, but I can certainly see WHY she did it. I didn't say it was okay, or right. I said the opposite. I said she shouldn't have done it, but here is why it doesn't matter. And thanks Comet! I think I am a pretty awesome person as well! I stand by my statement that bail has little to do with your bond amount, and lying by not disclosing the amount of money in a defense fund is not indicative of guilt. You are only focusing on the fact that GZ shot TM. You are ignoring the circumstances of the event, the circumstances of the area, and the charges brought against GZ. The charge doesn't fit the crime nor evidence, so I will continue to defend his side until people learn to objectively view this case.
Put myself in the shoes of the wife? Ok. My husband is accused of murder. The case has national attention. He could go to jail for 20 years. Our original lawyers have dropped us as clients. Things aren't looking good. Obviously, the best thing for us to do would be to flee the country. The court took my husband's passport? No problem. He has another one that he obtained w/o the court's knowledge. But starting a new life could be expensive, right? No problem. The secret bank account has over $100k that's easily accessible. After all, I've accessed it so I know exactly how much is in there. All we need to do is lie to the court, understate our assets, get my husband out on bail, transfer the funds, then run, run, run!
They have them recorded on tape talking specifics about the money. She then moves over a hundred thousand dollars across several accounts. Afterwards she specifically answers that they had no money to post a bond. It would be a walk in the park to convict her of perjury. Though I do think this is about leverage more than anything.
I do not possess all of the evidence in the case. Whether you think the charges fit the evidence is irrelevant to the bond hearing. The prosecutor and judge have already made a decision on there being sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial. Because other people favor the dead kid, you will favor the killer, because they aren't being objective. If you wanted to be objective, wouldn't you be favoring neither?
The prosecutor brought it to trial because of public outrage, which also convicted GZ of murder from the get-go. I am not in favor of the facts. And the facts don't convict GZ of murder. My main concern from the start has been the media coverage and the effect it has had on GZ's chance of a fair trial. People aren't looking at this objectively because they aren't reading into the facts without prejudice.
did'nt the lead investigator recommend to press charges but the DA decided not to? also the phone conversations about hiding/moving $100,000 around between accounts were BEFORE the bail hearing
All the facts that have been made public. I am not the jury either. Which is why I have not convicted GZ like many others. I simply don't think the evidence supports a murder charge. And I am fairly certain he will be acquitted of murder charges. I think it is likely he will be convicted of criminally negligent homicide.
If yes, she was moving money then went to court, I understand that. Whether she moved less than 10k at once is irrelevant. Also, you can only be convicted of perjury if it pertains to the outcome of a case.
