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George Zimmerman bond hearing: 5 new things we learned

A judge ruled Friday that George Zimmerman can go free on $150,000 bond as he awaits trial in the Trayvon Martin case. The hearing turned into a mini-trial when defense attorney Mark O’Mara surprisingly challenged prosecutors' probable-cause affidavit. Here are five things we learned.

4. Trial strategies take shape

John Raoux/AP
Attorney Mark O'Mara arrives at the Seminole County Criminal Justice Center for the bond hearing of his client George Zimmerman.

  • By Patrik Jonsson Staff writer

From the details revealed, it appears that the prosecution will try to keep its narrative simple: An unarmed teen returning from a snack run gunned down by a jumpy neighborhood-watch captain.

Mr. De La Rionda asked Gilbreath: “If Mr. Martin was minding his own business and coming home and someone starts accusing him of a crime, would you consider that a confrontation?”

“Yes,” Gilbreath responded.

The defense's tack in the hearing, meanwhile, pointed toward an attempt to press the prosecution for actual hard evidence. In his attack on the probable cause affidavit and questions to Gilbreath, O'Mara suggested that the most relevant evidence so far comes from Zimmerman himself and his injuries, which indicate that, no matter how the fight began, he was justified in defending himself.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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