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Judge Lester has painted himself into a corner now. What do you think he's going to do at the bail hearing on 6/29?

Bond isn't supposed to be punitive, and GZ doesn't have control over the money any more anyway. If he releases GZ on his own recognizance, he looks like a fool for throwing GZ back in jail and (effectively) stealing GZ's original bond fee. If he raises the bond, where will the money come from? If he refuses to allow bond, that sounds like being punitive when the fault is his own for not taking Shellie Zimmerman up on her offer of calling the brother-in-law for the PayPal total.

-- What do you think he's going to do at the bail hearing on 6/29? --

Whatever he feels like doing. It seems he doesn't feel obliged to adhere to binding precedent or statutory law. I don't recall him finding the state's case met the " guilt is evident or the presumption great" standard, and that's a pre-requisite for denial of bail.

I'm working my way through FL precedent on other conditions that support denial of bond, like danger to the community and flight risk. I'd like to find authority for the proposition that Zimmerman's disrespect is adequate justification for denial of bail. I mean, if he shows up out of fear of punishment (rather than out of respect), he still submitting to the court. I'd show up at court, myself, and as far as I'm concerned, the court is presumed full of self important dishonest pricks.

I think he'll grant bail. If he doesn't know he risks reversal of this opinion, he's quite a bit less intelligent than I credited him with. But then, seems he's indifferent about being reversed on appeal.

-- If he raises the bond, where will the money come from? --

It ends up being a new bond. He has to do the same "how much do you have" routine, again, and Zimmerman has $15,000 less now than he did the first time around. Maybe the bail bondsman is Lester's brother in law or something.

-- If he refuses to allow bond, that sounds like being punitive ... --

He's hemmed in by the FL constitution, FL statutes, and FL Supreme Court precedent. He has to make a certain finding in order to justify denial of bail. To the best of my recollection, he hasn't come close to making any finding that supports denial of bail.