George Zimmerman raised more than $200,000 to defend himself in the killing of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Attorney Mark O’Mara gave the figure in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, which was set to be broadcast Thursday night.
Zimmerman raised the money through a bizarre website, which he set up before his arrest. This week, the site was ordered shut down by O’Mara.
At a hearing last week, Zimmerman’s wife and father both said they had little money to pay for him to be released from jail should a judge grant him a bond. His father said he might have to take out a second mortgage out on his house to pay for it.
With that in mind, the judge set the bond amount at $150,000. Zimmerman’s family would have had to pay 10 percent, or $15,000, to secure his release.
Prosecutors had asked that Zimmerman be held in jail or granted a bond of no less than $1 million.
Zimmerman’s family was able to put together the $15,000 in just a few days and he was released early Monday morning from a Seminole County jail.
Zimmerman has been charged in second-degree murder in the killing, which has drawn international attention.
Watch an excerpt of the interview with O’Mara:
Nick R. Martin
Nick Martin is an associate editor at TPM in New York City. He came to the site in 2011 as a reporter for TPMMuckraker. Previously, he worked in Arizona, first as a staff reporter for a local newspaper and later as a freelance journalist. He also ran the news blog Heat City. Contact him: nick [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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