HispanicBusiness

Murder defendant George Zimmerman could walk out of the Seminole County (Fla.) Jail today.

His lawyer says he's working to pull together enough money to post $1 million in bail.

That's the amount set Thursday by Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr., who opted to release Zimmerman rather than leave him locked up until trial.

The 28-year-old Zimmerman is charged with killing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old, Feb. 26 on a Sanford sidewalk.

Zimmerman says the Miami Gardens teenager attacked him, got on top of him and pounded his head on a sidewalk, so he shot him in self-defense.

Prosecutors say Zimmerman chased the teenager, suspecting he was about to commit a crime then confronted and murdered him.

Martin's parents are expected to hold a news conference today in New Orleans alongside the Rev. Al Sharpton and their attorneys to react to the judge's decision to set bond. They are in the city for a music festival where Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin are guests in a series of seminars related to the event.

Lester cleared the way for Zimmerman's release with Thursday's $1 million bond order, however, it's not clear where Zimmerman will go. The judge banned him from leaving Seminole County without his permission and forbid him to have or open a bank account.

The judge was clearly unhappy with the 28-year-old Zimmerman. The tone of his nine-page order is one of moral indignation.

"By any definition, the defendant has flouted the system," Lester wrote. "It appears to this court that the defendant is manipulating the system for his own benefit."

That's because Zimmerman's wife testified under oath at an April 20 hearing that the couple had no savings when they, in fact, had $130,000 that they'd been moving from one account to another.

The money was donated by supporters, who were making credit card gifts via PayPal and a website Zimmerman and his family set up before his arrest.

In his order, the judge accused Zimmerman of committing a new felony -- lying while providing evidence about bail -- and hinted that he might be the subject of future contempt proceedings.

Lester was troubled, he wrote, that Zimmerman and his wife hid the money and that George Zimmerman had, until recently, a second, undisclosed passport.

"It is entirely reasonable for this court to find that, but for the requirement that he be placed on electronic monitoring, the defendant and his wife would have fled the United States with at least $130,000 of other people's money," the judge wrote.

Once released, Zimmerman will again be subject to satellite monitoring.