George Zimmerman, the Florida volunteer neighborhood watchman accused in the shooting death of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin, sought release on bail Friday but prosecutors raised violent incidents in his past.
Zimmerman, 28, who contends he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense, sat quietly as his wife assured the court over the phone that her husband was not a danger to the community and that she would do everything in her power to ensure he not flee.
“Absolutely he is not a violent person or a threat to the community,” Shellie Zimmerman told the court in Sanford, Florida.
But prosecutor Bernie del Rio immediately raised other violent episodes in Zimmerman's past, including an arrest for battering a police officer and an incident in which a woman sought an injunction against him after he allegedly picked her up and threw her on a bed.
Under questioning, Zimmerman's wife acknowledged she was aware of those incidents but said her husband was defending a friend in the incident with the police and was protecting himself from the woman after she attacked him.
Zimmerman had been ordered to undergo anger management and found guilty of a misdemeanor after the scuffle with police, according to the testimony.
Zimmerman's wife and father also testified that the couple had no assets or income to put toward a bond.
A new judge in the case, Kenneth Lester, will decide whether to set bail for Zimmerman, who escaped arrest for weeks after shooting to death Martin on February 26 as he crossed through a gated community in Sanford where Zimmerman lived.
Police initially decided that Zimmerman had acted within Florida's permissive self-defense laws and made no move to bring charges in the case, setting off protests in the black community.
After a special prosecutor's investigation, Zimmerman, who has a white father and a Peruvian-born mother, was charged last week with second-degree murder. He is to be arraigned on May 29. - Sapa-AFP