by, Caryn Freeman
At a bond hearing at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester set a $150K bond for George Zimmerman the man accused of killing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Florida teenager this past February. Several members of Zimmerman’s family testified by phone asking Judge Lester to release Zimmerman pending trial. Robert Zimmerman, the defendants father told the court he would put the family home up as collateral and pledged to insure that Zimmerman would appear at all court proceedings if the bond were granted.
Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman’s defense attorney also asked the judge to allow Zimmerman to leave the state, with the preclusion that Zimmerman be tracked by a GPS bracelet and that his location be kept confidential, citing concerns for his clients’ safety.
Zimmerman apologized to the court for killing Trayvon Martin, "I did not know how old he was," he said. "I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. And I did not know whether he was armed or not," he explained.