Though trials for second degree murder are going on all over the country without too much notice, George Zimmerman’s case for the death of Trayvon Martin has caught the imagination and ire of the country’s racial tensions, making him, a single person, the target for rallies of hate and coordinated efforts to kill him. That’s why Zimmerman used his supporter’s money to a security company, Associated Investigative Services, to protect him. As their services proved exorbitant, with them charging him $67,000 for 21 days of protection — and with seven of those days in which Zimmerman in Seminole County Jail — he has dropped their services after paying them $40,000. They are suing him for the remaining $27,027.
The James Bond style security measures had him delivered from court in concealed body army, driven by an armed guard in a rental vehicle that had been searched for secretly placed GPS tracking devices. After being delivered to a tourist resort, he would visit the handicapped stall of the men’s bathroom and change into a new shirt, hat and glasses. Body guards meanwhile would scope for paparazzi and “negative counter surveillance.”
Zimmerman’s new protection company perhaps is less thorough, as they are charging him $700 a week instead of what amounted to $3,100 a day under AIS. As Zimmerman is jobless and isolated, he depends on funds from sympathetic donors and supporters. His parents also received persistent death threats, and have gone into hiding; his lawyer received the same treatment as has the daughter of a judge.