Zimmerman May Get Bail Next Week
Update (1:38 p.m. EDT): Zimmerman's bail hearing has been confirmed for Friday, April 20, USA Today's Yamiche Alcindor reports via Twitter from a hearing over a possible judicial conflict of interest in the case. At issue was the judge's husband, a lawyer named Mark NeJame, who Zimmerman apparently contacted before he hired Mark O'Mara. The judge offered to recuse herself, and the two sides have until next Friday to ask her to do so.
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Original: George Zimmerman might get out of jail as early as next week, his lawyer said late on Thursday, telling the Associated Press Zimmerman would most likely get a bail hearing on April 20. After a judge Thursday scheduled Zimmerman's arraignment on a second-degree murder charge for May 29, it looked like he would be staying in jail until then. But his attorney, Mark O'Mara, said in a follow-up press conference that he would try to get Zimmerman on an earlier bond hearing, and it seems he has. However, simply getting a bond hearing does not mean Zimmerman will actually go free. He could be denied bail, or have it set so high he can't afford to pay it (Zimmerman's considered indigent by the state, and is not paying O'Mara's fees).
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While he's in jail, the Miami Herald reports, Zimmerman has been passing the time by eating Jolly Ranchers and doing puzzles in the cell he occupies alone, separated from the rest of the jail population for his own protection. That article has some of the best description yet of how Zimmerman's spending his time in jail, where ABC reported Thursday he wept his first night in.
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It's also worth pointing out that this case is at a stage where things can change quickly, and not all the press reports have exactly the same information. Reuters, for example, reported that Zimmerman had a not-guilty plea entered on his behalf on Thursday while the AP reported no plea was entered. In the end, the effect is basically the same: Zimmerman will be considered not guilty unless he formally enters a guilty plea. But the differing reports remind us that this case is developing quickly, and there may be a bit of lag time before all the reports are on the same page.
