On Wednesday, George Zimmerman’s wife pled guilty to perjury. 

George Zimmerman, photo via Creative Commons

While her husband has not had to face legal punishment, Shellie Zimmerman, 26, is in hot water for having lied about her finances during her husband’s bail hearing.

Although charged with a third-degree felony with far-reaching consequences—including five years of jail time—for her crime, Shellie Zimmerman escaped most of the potential consequences by pleading guilty.

She admits to having lied about her finances during an April 2012 bail hearing for her husband. Days before the hearing, Mrs. Zimmerman reportedly worked in series of small increments to transfer $74,000 from her husband’s account into her own account and $47,000 into her sister’s account. 

At the bail hearing, Mrs. Zimmerman had expressed financial concerns stemming from the fact that she was a fulltime student and her husband was not currently working. 

She hid the fact that she and her husband had collected an alleged $135,000 from online donations. 

A Florida judge sentenced Mrs. Zimmerman’s wife to one year of probation and 100 hours of community service.

According to Zimmerman prosecutor John Guy, he accepted the plea bargain because Shellie Zimmerman had no previous criminal record, she would still be able to pursue her nursing degree with the accepted the misdemeanor plea.

"The important thing is that she apologized to Judge Lester for what she did,” said Guy. 

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