Zimmerman shouldn’t be held in jail for mistrusting the judge, O’Mara said.

The judge seemed skeptical: “It’s not what he did to me,” Lester said. “It’s the court, it’s the system, the process.”

The bond hearing was the first time members of Zimmerman’s family were seen in public. His brother Robert sat in the audience wearing a bulletproof vest. O’Mara called Zimmerman’s father, Robert Zimmerman Sr., to the stand to identify screams heard on 911 recordings as coming from his son during the struggle with Trayvon.

“It was absolutely George’s” voice screaming on the tape, his father testified, saying he had heard his son yell “many times” before.

De la Rionda asked how his son could have been screaming for help if, as Zimmerman told police, Trayvon had his hand over his mouth and nose.

“From the extent of my son’s injuries,” Robert Zimmerman Sr. said, “Trayvon Martin’s hands were not just on his nose and mouth.”

Both lawyers agreed that there are several inconsistencies in Zimmerman’s various statements to police.

Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, and brother Jahvaris Fulton stepped out when the tape was first played, but returned and listened when it was played a second time. Trayvon’s father, Tracy Martin, just shook his head.

“Tracy and Sybrina have always said they want the killer of their child to remain in jail until the trial,” their lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said. “Our position is: Just because you claim to be scared and confused, that’s still no justification for lying to the court. What kind of message does that send?”