George Zimmerman, the Florida man who controversially claimed self-defense after shooting and killing unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, might be terrible at web design.
But he’s very good at getting people to give him money over the Internet, apparently.
Zimmerman’s recently-created site was widely lampooned for its shoddy, basic design before it was taken down Tuesday at the behest of his lawyer, Mark O’Mara.
Somebody must have liked it, though. O’Mara said Thursday evening it netted Zimmerman $200,000.
Zimmmerman had included a link for PayPal donations on his site, and wrote that “any funds provided are used only for living expenses and legal defense.”
By those standards, it was a clear success: Zimmerman was released Sunday on bail set at $150,000.
However, the donation scheme might backfire. O’Mara said he never told a judge about Zimmerman’s surprisingly effective plan, which might have led to a much higher bail.
“We think the court should revoke his bond immediately and he should be held accountable for misleading the court,” Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump said.
O’Mara said he plans to make the donations clear to the court Friday.
Photo via Wikipedia Commons