A US judge set $150,000 bail for the neighborhood watch volunteer charged with murdering Trayvon Martin and imposed tight restrictions on his release from jail.
George Zimmerman, whose February 26 shooting of Martin in Florida raised questions of racial profiling and sparked protests and marches around the country, took to the stand on Friday and apologized to the victim's parents.
"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 and I did not know that he was armed or not," Zimmerman, who has admitted the shooting, told the hearing.
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Martin's parents were in the courtroom to hear Zimmerman's apology for shooting their 17-year-old son as he crossed through a gated community in Sanford, Florida -- in the words of the defense "minding his own business."
Dressed in a white shirt, gray suit and tie, Zimmerman, who was handcuffed, listened quietly through most of the proceedings as lawyers argued for and against his release on bond.
Judge Kenneth Lester then set bail at $150,000 but imposed certain conditions on Zimmerman's release, including that he submit to electronic GPS tracking, a curfew and to periodically report to authorities.
"There is to be no contact with the victim's family. There is to be no possession of firearms, be they rifles, shotguns, handguns, pistols, revolvers, any type of firearm or destructive device. There is to be no consumption of alcohol."
The prosecution had argued that Zimmerman was a danger to the community and should be held without bond, or no less than a million dollar bond, until trial on charges of second degree murder.
Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, spotted Martin as he crossed a gated community in Sanford and called a non-emergency police dispatcher to report that he looked suspicious.
Told to stay in his car, Zimmerman apparently failed to heed police advice because a confrontation soon ensued with Zimmerman contending he shot Martin in self-defense after being assaulted.
Police initially decided not to press charges against the 28-year-old suspect, who has a white father and a Peruvian-born mother. This set off a storm of protests in the black community. He was charged last week after a special prosecutor's investigation.
The high-profile case drew an emotional reaction from President Barack Obama after touching off demonstrations around the country as Martin's family, lawyers and civil rights leaders alleged he was a victim of racial profiling.
At Friday's hearing, defense attorney Mark O'Mara sought to challenge the prosecution's account of what happened between Zimmerman and Martin that led to the shooting.
"He came in voluntarily and surrendered himself to law enforcement. He is well established in the community. His bail should be set at $15,000," O'Mara said.
Dale Gilbreath, an investigator in the case, acknowledged that there was no direct evidence of who threw the first blow the confrontation, other than the fact that Zimmerman had been following Martin.
But the prosecution said Martin had simply been walking back from the convenience store after buying a bag of Skittles when Zimmerman confronted him.
Arguing against his release on bond, prosecutors raised two 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 Shellie acknowledged she was aware of the incidents but said her husband was defending a friend in the first case with the police, and, in the second instance, had been protecting himself from the woman after she attacked him.
Zimmerman had been ordered to undergo anger management classes and found guilty of a misdemeanor after the scuffle with police, according to the testimony.
"Absolutely he is not a violent person or a threat to the community," Shellie Zimmerman told the court in Sanford, Florida by telephone.
Zimmerman's wife also testified that the couple had no assets or income to put toward a bond. His father said he was prepared to take a second mortgage on his house to help raise the money.
The judge said that his release would not be on Friday as there were too many details to be sorted out. If convicted Zimmerman could face life in prison.
