George Zimmerman Wants Taxpayers to Pay $200,000-$300,000 of His Legal Bills

George Zimmerman is not only profiting from the killing of Trayvon Martin, but now he wants the taxpayers to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars of his legal bills.

Details via The Orlando Sentinel

George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin, plans to ask the state of Florida to cover $200,000 to $300,000 of his legal expenses, his attorney told the Orlando Sentinel Monday evening.

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Because Zimmerman was acquitted, state law requires Florida to pay all his legal costs, minus the biggest one: the fee that goes to his lawyers.

That includes the cost of expert witnesses, travel, depositions, photocopies, even that animated 3-D video that defense attorneys showed jurors during closing argument that depicts Trayvon punching Zimmerman.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara said Monday that he would soon prepare a motion, asking Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to authorize the payments.

That motion, he said, “is in the works.”

His office is still collecting numbers, he said, but he estimated the request would total $200,000 to $300,000.

That would be on top of the estimated $902,000 that public agencies already have spent on Zimmerman’s five-week second-degree murder trial that ended July 13.

Zimmerman has enjoyed riding a wave of fame brought on by his murderous act. According to The Washington Post, “Zimmerman used a Kel-Tech 9-mm pistol to shoot Martin on Feb. 26, 2012, in Sanford, Fla. So, what did the former neighborhood watch volunteer do this weekend? According to TMZ, he went to the gun manufacturer’s Cocoa, Fla., headquarters to apparently shop for a rifle. Not only that, Zimmerman got a tour of the facility by the owner’s son and posed for at least one smiley-faced picture with an employee. The visit set off widespread head-scratching and curse-filled questioning. But the reaction from Shawn Vincent, the spokesman of the attorney who kept him from rotting behind bars, was the best. We certainly would not have advised him to go to the factory that made the gun that he used to shoot Trayvon Martin through the heart. That was not part of our public relations plan…”

I bet demanding another $200-300,000.00 from the taxpayers wasn’t a part of their public relations plan, either. Conservatives have embraced Zimmerman, and no doubt they’ll find a way to justify sticking the taxpayers with a million dollars plus bill caused by Zimmerman’s decision to follow Trayvon Martin.

Conservatives tell me Zimmerman was “unjustly charged” and that makes this okay. A pause while we consider that black Americans are statistically unjustly charged very often in this country, and somehow I doubt conservatives would say the taxpayers should pay a million dollars for doing so. Consistency is not a Republican value.

George Zimmerman not only killed Trayvon Martin and never showed a moments remorse for it, but he is profited from it, and now he’s using his status as the man who got away with it to pose with guns and advertise the weapon he shot and killed Trayvon with.

And now Zimmerman wants the taxpayers to pony up even more money for him.

Zimmerman hasn’t the good sense to go away and be grateful he got away with his crime, and his attorneys don’t seem too aware that they are dealing with someone with sociopathic leanings, someone who can’t feel for anyone else, and who has been in trouble with the law throughout his life. Zimmerman has a long history of accusations that he is a predator, from sexual abuse of a minor to domestic violence.

It won’t surprise me when Mr. Zimmerman is arrested again.

Sarah Jones

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