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“THE SAD FACT IS IF YOU DON’T HAVE  MONEY, YOU CANNOT DEFEND YOURSELF. GOD BLESS AND GOOD LUCK,” reads the  statement in all caps on George Zimemrman’s lawyer’s website Wednesday (May 29).

Lead defense attorney  Mike O’Mara posted the message,  left by a $40 donator, revealing that the 29-year-old is in need of more money to fight his pending second-degree murder trial.

Less than $5,000 is left in the money tank, more than $300,000 short of its January balance. “George is innocent — yet he has been convicted in the court of public opinion,” the statement on the site continues. “The defense team has been doggedly committed to the vigorous defense of George Zimmerman, and remains committed despite the personal and financial sacrifice that has been required. We will see this through to the end, and we will not be satisfied until we see justice served in the form of immunity or an acquittal, and we will not stop until the wrongs against George have been set right.”

Neither O’Mara or his co-council Don West have been paid for their efforts, but opted to work on a “shoestring budget,” for over a year. The team is in need of as much as $120,000 to properly prepare Zimmerman’s defense, but could settle for $75,000. “When Mark O’Mara accepted the Zimmerman case, he, along with many other legal analysts, predicted the defense would cost more than $1,000,000.

“The defense has moved forward on a shoestring budget, relying on individuals who have been willing to work for free or at a substantially reduced rate. To date, attorneys Mark O’Mara and Don West have not been paid for their services.”

Money problems are the latest in mounting issues surrounding Zimmerman’s case. Yesterday a judge barred use  of Trayvon Martin’s text messages, school records, and other personal history, from the trial. The former neighborhood watch captain’s lawyers planned on using  the information to convey Martin’s alleged history of fighting and doing drugs, thus making him a threat to Zimmerman.

Martin was shot in the Sanford, Fla. neighborhood of his father’s girlfriend, last February. Zimmerman asserts to have fired at the unarmed teen in self-defense.

 

Photo: Reuters