What’s the price of the trial that resulted in George Zimmerman’s acquittal?
Apparently, just over 900 stacks.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the five-week trial ended up costing the public roughly $902,000, with the biggest outlay of $425,000 coming from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. Coming in second place, the city of Sanford spent about $183,000 on police overtime.
But surprisingly, jury costs came to about $34,000, a huge difference from the Casey Anthony trial which was about five times that amount. Still, feeding and housing the jurors was unusually high in Zimmerman’s trial.
Other totals for the trial were not specified. However, it was clear that most of the money was spent on security.
Security is one of the reasons the trial was so expensive. The decision by Sanford police to not arrest Zimmerman in the days following the shooting set off weeks of demonstrations. Fearing more, local law enforcement spent an enormous amount of time preparing for and guarding against violence.
Also, Zimmerman had received death threats. As a consequence, dozens of extra officers were at the courthouse. They stopped every vehicle pulling into the parking lot if they did not recognize the driver.
The $902,000 total doesn’t include the cost of the criminal investigation or any pretrial costs.
For example, Special Prosecutor Angela Corey did not provide any information about her costs. All of her nonsalary expenses must be paid by the Seminole-Brevard State Attorney’s Office. It provided an $80,000 advance to her Jacksonville-based office in mid-June but has not received an account of how those funds were spent.
The Sentinel also specifies that the trial costs did not include what Zimmerman and his lawyers spent, only what was spent by public agencies that dedicated personnel and resources to the trial.
SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel
