ADDED: Details here:
Four days before she testified to having no knowledge of the funds, the affidavit says, Shellie Zimmerman began a series of transfers into her account — totaling $74,000 between April 16 and April 19.
The affidavit says about $47,000 more was transferred from George Zimmerman's account to his sister's. Shellie Zimmerman withdrew about $18,000 more cash, prosecutors say.
Prosecutors say the Zimmermans used a rudimentary "code" to discuss the money in recorded jailhouse phone calls — referring to $100,000, for example, as "$100." At least two of the calls, the state alleges, were made while Shellie Zimmerman and her husband's sister were at a local credit union making the transactions.
"In my account do I have at least $100?" Zimmerman asked. "No... there's like $8. $8.60," she replied.
Zimmerman told his wife to "pay off all the bills" with the money, prosecutors said, including an American Express card and a Sam's Club card. He also instructed her on how to pay for his bail.
According to the affidavit, after her husband was released on bond days after the bond hearing, she transferred more than $85,000 back into his account. A branch manager at their credit union told prosecutors he knew the couple, and saw Shellie Zimmerman talking to her husband on the phone on April 16.
The manager said he'd helped Shellie Zimmerman transfer control of George Zimmerman's account, at one point speaking directly to George Zimmerman by phone.
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63 comments:
Didn't Angela Corey fail to disclose some things on the charging affidavit?
Personally I'm not putting any faith in anything this prosecutor does. Just because there was an arrest warrant frankly doesn't mean anything because the prosecutor could do all of that entirely on her own. Couple this with the frankly absurd indictment that doesn't include -any- notice of the injuries that George Zimmerman sustained.
Well you get the idea.
We'll see if this arrest holds up once it's in front of the judge.
Angela Corey evidently is not one to stop digging when she finds herself in a hole.
These kids screwed up, but there was no need for this.
Cover-ups are usually worse than the actual "crime."
I'm guessing that a summons would have been adequate. This prosecutor is evidently unconcerned about exposing her bias and vindictiveness to the nation.
Although I am not a lawyer, I can tell the difference between "prosecution" and "persecution".
Angela Corey gives attorneys a bad name. How the heck did she get picked as special prosecutor. That appointment was a failure.
Are they setting up a plea bargain by threatening his wife?
According to Wikipedia, Corey is a career prosecutor (26 years), who has tried more than 50 homicides. What in the world is going on here?
50 homicides in 26 years doesn't seem like very many to me. I hope she was doing other stuff too.
It's crowd pleasing, for some crowd that matters to Corey.
According to Wikipedia, Corey is a career prosecutor (26 years), who has tried more than 50 homicides. What in the world is going on here?
Those other 50 homicides might be worth a closer look.
Sadly, Florida is shutting down its state conviction-review process for homicide cases. :(
Here's 2 sincere questions that perhaps someone here can answer:
About that money in the PayPal account,
1. How much had been collected at the time of the bond hearing?
2. Had she been notified of the amount in the account before the hearing?
If a substancial amount been collected by the time of the bond hearing and she knew that, then she could be in trouble. However, if the collections came after the bond hearing or if she didn't know the amount until afterwards, I don't see how she could've committed perjury. She would not have had any way to know how much money was going to be collected.
The whole thing sounds like pretty thin gruel, but so does the rest of the case.
PS She's white!!! The "white Hispanic" with black ancestry's wife is white!
That proves he's a racist.
Why didn't Zimmerman's attorney at least argue that the money collected in the George Zimmerman Fund were gifts in trust for that purpose and that the Zimmermans did not have full, unconditional title?
Once you are in a high profile case all the rules change.
Isn't some hidden asset lied about virtually every time. Not saying she should not be charge, but that she should have been more honest than most would have to be. They are after you, and everyone is watching. There will be no breaks.
The Zimmermans had to get away with their acts, so they innocently shot off a big fat lie in court.
So What's wrong with the State special prosecutor playing her hand that the Zimmerman's dealt on this?
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying under oath like it was no big deal.
This young couple just wanted to keep their donations and not spend them on Bail Bondsmen fees. All they had to do was come up with a good story, practice it and stick to it. Their money was earned fair and square, right.
Hmmm? I wonder if credibility of Zimmerman will possibly become an issue at trial.
"ADDED: Details here"
Oh, that's why.
So much for GZ's diabolical scheme to get rich by shooting a teenage thug and soliciting contributions via PayPal for his legal defense.
This doesn't make Zimmerman look guilty, but it does make him look sly and crafty. Even so, it's the only info that's come out since the original shooting that undermines his defense. All the other details have been supportive of his character and story. The details about Trayvon lend one to give credence to Zimmerman's story that Trayon jumped him...Finagling to get low bail doesn't seem like such a ghastly crime.
Zimmerman's wife arrested for perjured testimony at his bond hearing.
"The prosecutor sent a strong message that you have to tell the truth in court because it is the whole basis of the American judicial system," said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Trayvon's family, after learning of the new arrest.
The PROSECUTOR herself has absolute immunity (besides who could charge her) for her lies by omission in SWORN court papers.
Something smells really bad in Florida.
Why didn't Zimmerman's attorney at least argue that the money collected in the George Zimmerman Fund were gifts in trust for that purpose and that the Zimmermans did not have full, unconditional title?
According to earlier stories I read when Zimmerman’s bail was first revoked, he apparently was using some of the money to pay for living expenses. That suggests to me that there weren’t any restrictions on how the funds could be used.
"sly and crafty"?
Let's revisit the circumstances of that time period. The New Black Panthers had a public execution contract, "Wanted: Dead or Alive", out without any response from -any- law enforcement agency.
Zimmerman's wife had to flee their home and take up residence somewhere else entirely at their own expense. He was in jail and couldn't work or earn any income. And if he actually went to work how do you think that would turn out?
The reality is that I frankly sympathize with the Zimmerman family on this issue. They were left entirely at the mercy of the mob and deliberately so at that. They literally could not trust the law enforcement agencies because said agencies were either positioned to imprison them or had literally positioned themselves to be enemies of the Zimmermans.
And frankly the judge hasn't shown himself to be all that bright a bulb either. I would have expected the judge to rap the prosecutor on the hands for the clear and ridiculous omissions from the indictment. Clear enough and ridiculous enough to warrant open mockery by Dershowitz among others.
Prosecuter should be sharing a cell with Mike Nifong.
What a petty fucking bitch.
ed, I can sympathize with the Zimmerman's to an extent, but lying under oath is just plain stupid. The courts tend to get really pissy about that, and even God gets angry about that. Not to mention it undermines George's credibility. Just plain stupid.
ed, I can sympathize with the Zimmerman's to an extent, but lying under oath is just plain stupid. The courts tend to get really pissy about that, and even God gets angry about that. Not to mention it undermines George's credibility. Just plain stupid.
Agreed and shifting tens of thousands of dollars out of the account days before you tell then judge you didn’t know how much was in it is pretty indefensible IMO. It seems to me that this is the sort of thing Martin should have been talking with his attorney about either before or immediately after his bail hearing. Better to fully disclose and get denied bail (or have a higher bail) than to have it revoked afterwards.
Sometimes bad people get shot by other not very good people.
It seems to me that this is the sort of thing [Zimmerman] should have been talking with his attorney about either before or immediately after his bail hearing.
Agreed, but Zimmerman was doing stuff without speaking to his first set of attorneys either. I'm wondering how many more stunts like this before he is on his third set of attorneys.
Zimmerman and his wife were stupid. The lawyer should have been informed - and at the Hearing in all likelihood could have shielded that money as an asset by stating the money was clearly given on the belief it would be used as a Defense Fund. For legal costs in defending Zimmerman and safety expenses related to the countless hundreds of death threats the family had gotten from leftist ideologues and black racist thugs.
Zimmerman and his wife are no rocket scientists - not as dirt dumb as doper and thug Trayvon, but no rocket scientists.
She will pay, possibly GZ will pay, for stupidly keeping their lawyer in the dark then perjuring herself with the judge.
God, leslyn, you are kind of off your rocker.
Lying in court is stupid. Flat out. But this was clearly about the money and not about what happened with Trayvon.
The prosecutor can't win on the actual crime because the evidence is nonexistent so she's going after other stuff. It's a railroad.
So, now Zimmerman and his wife are unreliable witnesses. This will likely keep them off of the stand during a trial.
That still doesn't change other witnesses' testimonies, the recorded calls to the police, the physical evidence, or the timeline.
Can someone explain how Zimmerman's lawyer and Angela Corey did not know Zimmerman had a defense fund given that everyone reading understand that fact?
Clearly a Pyrrhic victory for Corey.
Agreed and shifting tens of thousands of dollars out of the account days before you tell then judge you didn’t know how much was in it is pretty indefensible IMO.
It is pretty easy to defend: the state wrongly imprisoned him in the first place.
Now, given the relative power of the state to the Zimmermans it was certainly *dumb* for them to try this. But it wasn't wrong. The only wrongdoing in this case has been by the state prosecutor, in bringing unsupportable charges against a clearly innocent man.
Sometimes bad people get shot by other not very good people.
Again we don’t know what exactly happened that night and I think it’s incumbent on those of us who resisted the rush to judgment (back when Zimmerman was just a white racist who stalked and killed an innocent honor student because he was black and the police didn’t even investigate the shooting) to also resist the urge to rush to Zimmerman’s or his wife’s defense because he’s been treated so shabbily by much of the MSM. That fact that so many who immediately assumed his guilt based on what was clearly inaccurate and biased reported and have dug their heels in, means that the rest of us need to be just as cautious about assuming that his shabby treatment in the press makes him some sort of hero.
Thorley,
I think you have confused the concept of "caution" with the concept of "unlimited deference to the state". :)
"Why didn't Zimmerman's attorney at least argue that the money collected in the George Zimmerman Fund were gifts in trust for that purpose and that the Zimmermans did not have full, unconditional title?"
They arrested and tried a lady here in Albuquerque for misplacing donated funds.
The idea that money gifts for his defense could simply be used for whatever... buy a new car... fix the roof...
It probably depends on how the money was collected, but if it was collected for a specific purpose and used for something else it's probably something criminal-sounding like wire fraud... or some such. (Cuz IANAL.)
"That Our Hero is a liar after all?"
So now "not a murderer" is the definition of "hero?"
Wow.
Okay.
I can go with that.
Zimmerman was getting a bit paranoid (gee, I wonder why!) and got stupid.
In court about this, his lawyer tried to stand up for him and, think, told the judge that it was his (O'Mara's) fault that this had not been straightened out sooner, and the judge pretty much told him to sit down and shut up.
I have a bad feeling about the local politics around Sanford, FL.
I don't think there was anything more to it than that Zimmerman wanted
1. that his wife should have some money in case he was out of it for a long time, and
2. that money would be available to pay the lawyer for his defense ather than be sequestered or confiscated by the authorities.
I think his lawyer found out about it and explained to him that that is not how it works, but did not immediately set about remedying Zimmerman's mistake.
And I don't think this is Angela Carey, the state prosecutor, but the local DA that is in front pushing this. At least it was him who appeared at the court hearing.
"And I don't think this is Angela Carey, the state prosecutor, but the local DA that is in front pushing this. At least it was him who appeared at the court hearing."
You can bet they did not do this without her enthusiastic approval.
That said, what a stupid mistake. Either they are inclined to this kind of foolishness, or the pressure of a high stress got to them. Zimmerman's father is (or was) a judge. It's not like they had nowhere to turn.
1. GZ isn't a "hero" to me. He's a defendant who deserves a day in court unencumbered by crazy race politics.
2. Lying to a judge is a seriously bad idea. But there are plenty of examples where just being in court is a really bad idea because the judge is frankly off his rocker.
If I had to choose between hoping a judge won't take every penny for bail or having some cash to survive hiding out from a crazy mob intent on murder then I'd suggest I'd seriously consider the latter rather than the former.
And if your argument is that such a mob doesn't exist then I would like to say that Google is your friend and that you should Google the experience of the poor schmoe who got GZ's old phone number when he bought his new cell phone. The guy was so scared he moved his -mother- to a new hidden location.
3. Yes a different local DA filed the charges but I seriously do not believe for a moment that Corey had nothing to do with it. And again let me point out that the New Black Panther Party was able to openly publish a death warrant on GZ with zero repercussions. Nobody got arrested. Nobody got indicted. Not one single person was put to even 1/10th of the trouble GZ has been put through for that.
Doesn't that creep you out?
Personally I've never had a good opinion of lawyers or judges. Frankly it's my considered opinion that the country would be much better off if we simply shot all the judges and started over. Maybe also shoot all the lawyers too.
So far I've seen very very little that has given that opinion any serious challenge. Certainly nothing from SCOTUS or any lower court. And IMO the jury is still out on the judge in GZ's trial.
Wonder how much Zimmerman is gonne win in his malicious prosecution case? Wonder if the prosecuter is acting on her own, or is under orders from the AG of the US? Wonder if Leslyn will ever get her head out of her ass? Wonder if Saint Trayvon will only be cannonized by William Wrights church?
He's married?
I guess I'm not following this the way I should.
I believe this is Corey attempting to get some kind of plea bargain by going after the wife. It is nothing more than prosecutorial misconduct just as her rants toward Harvard and the Time-Union are misconduct.
Libtard: I presume you've recovered from your grief over the dead kid
You presume too much. Martin was a thug who deserved to die like a thug.
One less thug to prey on the innocent. Good riddance.
Aw, leslyn.
Is your theory that because we haven't heard the evidence, that the prosecutor in Florida is entitled to bad behavior? After all, we don't know if Zimmerman is a cold blooded racist murderer who practically hunted the innocent and cherubic Martin for the crime of wearing a hoodie.
Which result of the evidence, once it's heard... scared-for-his-life self-defense or hoodie-hunter, would justify the misbehavior and public grandstanding of the prosecutor before the trial?
Because I can't even guess which one it would be that would make that all okay.
Wow. I'm so happy leslyn isn't on the jury, as s/he's already placed Zimmerman in the category of "tried & convicted."
For all the huffing & puffing, the lesson is a very simple one: do not lie to the court.
For the "GZ was worried about mobs" proponents: you still don't lie to the court. Perjury is perjury. It doesn't matter if you lied as a matter of (perceived) self-defense, for a higher cause, or or over a dispute one the what "is" is. Perjury is illegal and stupid.
My greatest concern here is that the Usual Suspects (AKA the MSM) will use this to re-enforce the picture of Zimmerman as villain. Nothing like trying the casein the press to really muck things up.
So.. your theory is that a young man is dead... the man who killed him is in fear for his life, but that won't make up for the tragedy?
I really don't see you refraining from making judgments, not with all the snark about "our hero."
The fellow deserves, first of all, not to have been arrested because of political pressure and the demand of a lynch mob. And if you think that the change in opinion from "don't need to arrest him" to "he has to be arrested and tried" wasn't political, you're a moron.
How much do you want to bet that they decided to push this re-arrest because of outrage and pressure from that lynch mob, that he was released on bond? Put him back in prison and make the howling masses happy.
What is going to happen, leslyn, if the jury, in all their purity, decide that the prosecution *can not prove* that he didn't fear for his life? The prosecution has to prove what he *didn't* think.
And then he'll get let go again?
How angry will the lynch mob be then?
If the prosecutor's office is behaving objectively, where are the other arrests? Where are the arrests for those who have terrified total strangers into having to leave their homes? Or publicly calling for Zimmerman's death? Normally that would be putting a contract out on someone, wouldn't it? Is that not illegal?
Or is it a case where the prosecutor's office is entirely biased, or else it's all about political pressure.
How fair is that trial going to be?
He had good reasons, but still a bad call. This is the worst fact of the entire case for him. It's not much, but it is an unforced error.
Zimmerman will have a hearing on his bail revocation later this month. I'm guessing the judge will double or quadruple his bail on that occasion and, if Zimmerman can make it, he will be set free until his trial.
This hiding of assets does not look good for Zimmerman. I expect that he and his wife have always lived hand to mouth and all of a sudden hundreds of thousands of dollars came rolling in and, like people who win the lottery, they just couldn't resist spending it.
Synova,
The shrill ones against GZ like Leslyn don't care about illegal anything. They formed a mental image of a crazed vigilante when they first heard the case. I did too. Nothing will satisfy or dissuade them until the man is punished for being the bad guy in their fantasy.
I changed my opinion 180 degrees as soon as I got the facts. On day one I thought him guilty, but every single fact I've learned since then has been in GZ's favor.
And the lynch mob continues for poor George.
Althouse, this is what your president wants to happen to every whitey who dares defend himself from an attack from darkie.
Jeralyn at Talkleft makes a case that the wife may not have actually lied under oath, and that the questions by the prosecution may not have been as comprehensive as they could have been. Part of the argument is that Sheila really didn't know how much was available at the time of the hearing. The paypal account was being controlled by a brother-in-law (whom the defense offered to call), and the fund was pretty new.
Now, the defense has a duty of candor - but that, I think, is mostly the attorney, and he seems to have been up front with the judge. The problem was that there was only a bit over a week between when he entered the case, and the hearing, and a lot of that was spent disqualifying the original judge. Also, the Zimmermans seem not to have trusted him fully up front.
Only time will tell if Mrs. Zimmerman actually lied under oath. "I don't know" can be held to be lying (as it was with Scooter Libby) when someone most likely did know.
I see this as pure leverage and politics on the part of the prosecutor, as evidenced by the Martin family attorney being so intimately involved in this. The complaint doesn't say "Martin Family v. George Zimmerman", but "State of Florida v. George Zimmerman", which means that the prosecutor's duty is to the people of Florida, and not the family of the deceased.
As many have noted, perjury is rampant in criminal trials, but is almost never prosecuted. The only plausible reason for the prosecutor to file these charges against the wife is to put leverage on her husband to cop a lesser plea, and avoid losing at trial, or, worse, at the immunity hearing (where, if she loses, the Martins lose their ability to sue Zimmerman for wrongful death, and, thus, for whatever remains in his legal defense fund).
I smell troll sweat.
leslyn said...
Then this should reassure that your world has become a safer place: Wisconsin--stand your ground.
Are you seriously going to morally equivocate justifiable homicide as a function of self defense with murder? You do understand the difference between killing and murder don't you?
X said...
Didn't Angela Corey fail to disclose some things on the charging affidavit?
I'd like to know how far Angela Corey went in telling the Martin's how she was going to literally get justice for their son regardless of Zimmerman's innocence. Cause that's the conversation I keep hearing in my head at how that played out.
Rumpletweezer said...
Are they setting up a plea bargain by threatening his wife?
Plea bargaining should be abolished in totality. It does nothing to serve justice and actually circumvents it for all parties involved.
leslyn said...
Yes, Synova, our misunderstood hero. I keep saying we haven't heard the evidence yet, but that's irrelevant.
And yet you have him hanging from a lamp post already.
Indeed. Let's hear everything in evidence and save the side show crap for the Examiner. Maybe while you're at it you can prosecute the NBPP for contracting to commit murder. I think that is still a felony in nearly every state.
Corey has been made to look bad and really trounced all over by everyone from Mark Levin to ..... (name of famous law professor ... ah) Dershowitz (sp?).
She's going to take this out on the Zimmermans.
They didn't help themselves here, but prolly ... they're not that bright. This looks like something that could have been handled without any deception.
Hey, who didn't know that people were sending them money for their defence and support (since the guy was in hiding) ?
The money was hiding in plain sight, so it was foolish to lie about it. And alienate Mark O'Mara (Zimmerman's defense attorney) in the process. Not to mention the very reason we have the Innocence Project: Angela Corey (et al).
Still, she'll have to go into the heart of the ghetto to get a conviction on the murder charge.
Actually, now that I'm reading the transcript, it appears his wife said she didn't know what was in the account at that moment, and volunteered that they could call Z's BIL to find out. That seems weak sauce for perjury (and it may be that she was trying hard not to give a false statement, since she did not know what was in it at that exact second and didn't want to speculate).
Reading the transcripts, I'm reminded of the advice to lawyers to not ask questions for which you don't know the answer.
The incompetency of the legal profession to act even remotely intelligent once again both surprises me and doesn't. (It's not just the prosecutor(s); I wouldn't trust the defense attorney to write my will. Between the president, this trial, going back to OJ, and my own direct experience, I'm not all that impressed with the alleged intelligence of the legal profession.)
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