George Zimmerman, gets $150,000 bail in the Trayvon Martin murder case

SANFORD, Fla. — Speaking publicly for the first time, George Zimmerman, the man accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, briefly took the witness stand at his bail hearing on Friday and apologized to Mr. Martin’s parents.

“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son,” Mr. Zimmerman, 28, said in a soft voice as he took the stand with shackles at his feet and waist. “I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not.”

Mr. Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, sitting in the second row of the small courtroom here, showed little emotion during Mr. Zimmerman’s remarks. They did not comment after the hearing ended, hurrying to a waiting car.

Their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said Mr. Martin’s family was “completely devastated” by the judge’s decision to allow Mr. Zimmerman to be released from jail on $150,000 bail, which was considerably lower than the $1 million requested by prosecutors. Mr. Martin was unarmed when he was shot and killed while walking home on Feb. 26 through the gated community where Mr. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch volunteer.

Mr. Crump also described Mr. Zimmerman’s apology as “self-serving” and said he considered it a ploy to help win his release from jail, where he has remained since his arrest last week.

Read the rest of this story at the NY Times

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