Sybrina Fulton, left, mother, and Tracy Martin, father, of Trayvon Martin in cour today. (UPI)
George Zimmerman during a bond hearing today. (AP)
SANFORD, Fla. — In a dramatic courtroom appearance, George Zimmerman took the stand at his own bail hearing today and made a surprise apology to Trayvon Martin’s family, saying he was “sorry” for the shooting as a judge set bail at $150,000.
“I wanted to say I am sorry for the loss of your son,” Zimmerman said in his first public statement since the Feb. 26 shooting. “I did not know how old he was. I thought he was a little younger than I am. And I did not know if he was armed or not.”
Zimmerman will not be immediately released from the Florida jail where he has been held since he was charged last week with second degree murder.
Zimmerman, 28, who will be monitored by authorities via a GPS device, is not to have any contact with Martin’s family or with any of the witnesses in the case, Seminole Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester said.
The judge says there is a possibility Zimmerman will be allowed to go out of state because of worries about his safety, but details need to be worked out among the attorneys and law enforcement.
Lester says Zimmerman cannot have any firearms, drink alcohol or use drugs and must observe a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.
This came at a hearing as Zimmerman’s family said at the hearing that the neighborhood watchman is not a threat to society at a hearing where his attorney sought his release on bond.
The hearing also came as a new photograph of Zimmerman, taken just three minutes after he shot and killed 17-year-old Martin, was released. The image shows blood trickling down the back of his head, adding credence to Zimmerman’s claim that Martin bashed his head against the ground.
The photo, obtained by ABC News, shows blood dripping down from two cuts and a possible contusion forming on Zimmerman’s crown.
The police report from the night Martin was shot notes that the back of Zimmerman’s head was wet and that he was bleeding from the nose and head.
Zimmerman was treated at the scene by paramedics, but he was not admitted to the hospital or given stitches the night of the incident.
Investigators have seen the photo, ABC News reported, but the Martin family attorney doesn’t believe Zimmerman’s wound was significant.
“How bad could it have been if they didn’t take him to the hospital [and] didn’t stitch him up,” the Martins’ lawyer Benjamin Crump said in a statement. “The special prosecutor has seen all the evidence and still believes George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin.”
The person who took the photo told ABC that they heard, but didn’t see, the scuffle that night. The source saw Martin’s body on the ground and says the gunpowder marks on Martin’s hoodie show that the teen was shot at very close range.
At the hearing, a shackled Zimmerman, dressed in a dark suit with a gray tie and fitted with a bullet-proof vest, sat quietly as family members testifying over the phone said he was not a violent man.
“I’ve never known him to be violent at all unless he was provoked and then he would turn the other cheek,” Robert Zimmerman, Zimmerman’s father, told the judge.
Shellie Zimmerman, the defendant’s wife of five years, said she feared for her family’s safety if her husband was to be released from custody, but doesn’t believe he poses any danger to society.
Zimmerman told police he killed Martin in self-defense after the teenager attacked him.
Robert Zimmerman testified that his son sustained several head injuries during the struggle.
“His face was swollen quite a bit,” Robert Zimmerman said, adding that his son also had “two vertical gashes on the back of his head.”
Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’Mara surrendered his client’s passport to Lester at the outset of the hearing.
Speaking outside the court, O’Mara said he was pleased with the outcome of the hearing but noted that it was “very risky” for Zimmerman to take the witness stand.
“It could have really caused some problems,” O’Mara said, noting that his client made the decision to speak in court after earlier attempts to apologize to Martin’s family in private were rebuffed.
Attorneys for Martin’s family called Zimmerman’s statement “self-serving” and “the most un-meaningful apology we’ve ever seen.”
The unarmed Martin was carrying a packet of Skittles and a can of iced tea when he was shot as he walked home on Feb. 26.
Zimmerman has told police he killed Martin in self-defense after the teenager attacked him.
With NewsCore and AP