George Zimmerman has been released from a Florida jail after posting $150,000 bond as he awaits trial for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman exited the John E. Polk Correctional Facility (JEPCF) at the Seminole County Sheriff's Office at approximately midnight on Monday. The 28-year-old posted bond and was fitted with an electronic monitoring device prior to release, according to a statement from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office.
The GPS device, which can give immediate identification of an offender's whereabouts at any given time, will be monitored by the SCSO and Seminole County Probation.
At a bond hearing on Friday morning Judge Kenneth Lester agreed to allow Zimmerman, who is charged with second degree murder, to post a $150,000 bond to get out of jail. The prosecution had argued that Zimmerman should be denied bail or that it should be set at $1 million.
Zimmerman is being held on charges of second-degree murder for the Feb. 26 shooting of Martin, 17, which could carry a life sentence if he is convicted.
George Zimmerman stunned a Florida court Friday by taking the stand and apologizing to the parents of Trayvon Martin, who were sitting in the courtroom during Zimmerman's bond hearing.
"I am sorry for the loss of your son. I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little bit younger than I am. I did not know if he was armed or not," Zimmerman said addressing Martin's family directly.
Zimmerman told police the night he shot and killed Martin that he acted in self-defense after Martin punched him and pounced on him. Zimmerman told police that Martin then bashed his head into the concrete sidewalk during the altercation that took place in the tidy middle-class development of the Retreat at Twin Lakes in Sanford, Fla.
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