ORLANDO, Fla. - A judge is considering whether to raise or revoke the bond for the U.S. man charged with murder in the shooting of an unarmed black teen after the man's lawyer told the judge a website had raised $200,000 for his defence.
The attorney for George Zimmerman told the judge Friday he didn't know his client had raised the money before a bond hearing last week in which his client was granted $150,000 bond.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 26 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin after weeks without an arrest led to protests nationwide over racial profiling and controversial self-defence laws in Florida and other states. Martin was black; Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is from Peru.
Zimmerman has gone into hiding since his release this week after paying 10 per cent of his bail, though he has to wear a GPS ankle bracelet that authorities can use to track his location.
Florida Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said Friday he wanted more information about the money and what Zimmerman knew before deciding whether to revoke or raise his bond.
The lawyer for Martin's parents, Benjamin Crump, said Friday he has asked the prosecutor to request that the judge revoke Zimmerman's bail for not disclosing at the original hearing last week how much money he had.
"This is a bombshell that was dropped," Crump told The Associated Press. He said the parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, were "offended" that Zimmerman failed to inform the court of the money.
Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, told CNN late Thursday the $200,000 was raised by a website Zimmerman set up for his legal defence. The website has since been shut down, but O'Mara said he'll likely start a new defence fund.
O'Mara did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.
Friday's hearing was initially scheduled to deal with the request by several media organizations, including The Associated Press, to unseal documents from Zimmerman's court file.
Lester said he would not stop Zimmerman's attorneys from talking to the media if they chose. The prosecution had asked for a gag order on those involved in the trial.
