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Zimmerman asking Florida to pay his legal bills

Trayvon Martin's killer will ask Florida to foot a legal bill of up to $300,000

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George Zimmerman (Reuters/Joe Burbank)
George Zimmerman (Reuters/Joe Burbank)

George Zimmerman, who shot dead 17-year-old, unarmed Trayvon Martin, but was found “not guilty” of his murder last month, is asking the state of Florida to cover his considerable legal expenses. Via the Orlando Sentinel:

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.”

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.

By Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.


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