Recently it has been reported that George Zimmerman's attorneys have asked the State of Florida to reimburse him for his legal expenses. More information about this appears in the diary written by Heavy Mettle which you can read here.
Of interest to me was this little nugget of information that appeared in an NPR story by Greg Allen this morning about Zimmerman's request for legal expenses.
ALLEN: Zimmerman has a legal defense fund and some donations are still trickling in. O'Mara says whatever costs the court decides to cover will go into the fund, which still has outstanding debts to pay.
At the same time, Zimmerman has been drawing on the fund for some of his living expenses. He's not currently working and O'Mara says he doesn't expect his client will be able to pay his legal bills.
(emphasis mine)
http://www.npr.org/....
Let me get this straight. Zimmerman is asking the taxpayers of the State of Florida to pay money to an account which Zimmerman then uses to pay his regular living expenses. In other words, Zimmerman is asking the State of Florida to provide him government assistance.
I'd love to know what the right wing anti-government types think of Zimmerman's request for public assistance. It seems to me that if Zimmerman really needs public assistance to live, he should be subjected to the same rules and regulations enacted by the Republicans in Florida to block or limit those truly in need.
And I would bet that the people donating to Zimmerman's legal defense fund were doing so to pay his legal fees and expert witness fees, and not to support Zimmerman and his family.
I am personally not surprised about Zimmerman's actions. Today the Orlando Sentinel reported that Zimmerman's wife pled guilty a form of perjury in connection with statements she made to the court about their financial status during a bond hearing. According to the Orlando Sentinel
She testified that she and her husband were broke. In fact, they had taken in more than $130,000 in donations in a little more than two weeks from Internet donors wanting to help Zimmerman defend himself against the murder charge. . . .
Recorded phone calls made by George Zimmerman from the Seminole County Jail show that in the days just before the bail hearing, he and his wife talked about those defense fund donations, and he directed her to move money between various credit union accounts and to put some in a safe-deposit box.
However, the two talked in code, referring to $10 when they meant $10,000, according to prosecutors.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/...