Trayvon Martin killing: the winding legal road ahead of George Zimmerman His former lawyers said that Mr Zimmerman was prepared to give himself up and would not attempt to flee but Trayvon Martin's family have expressed concern that he is outside the state of Florida and no one seems to know exactly where he is. Once in custody, Mr Zimmerman would make a first appearance before a judge within 24 hours, where he would formally have the charges read to him and told he has the right to counsel. Often the hearing is done by video link from prison and court authorities would likely go down this route to avoid protests and potential unrest outside the court. The issue of bail is also likely to be addressed at the first hearing, where prosecutors often argue that the defendant is a flight risk and seek to keep him in prison or else set an exorbitantly high bond in return for freedom. If Mr Zimmerman is granted bail he would still probably require police protection or else go back into hiding. Within three weeks of his first appearance, the 28-year-old would go through an arraignment hearing, where he would get a chance to enter a plea and opt for a jury trial. His lawyers would file discovery motions giving them access to the police records and witness accounts that prosecutors used to build the case. In the months after that Mr Zimmerman's case would go through a range of hearings where his counsel would have more opportunities to try to influence the course of events. They might seek a "change of venue" - a request to move the trial away from Sanford, a city that has been so rocked by the events. But David Joffe, of the Joffe & Joffe criminal law firm in Miami, said that Mr Zimmerman's lawyers might actually fight to keep the case there in the hope that racial element of the case would be less damaging there. "Sanford is a fairly conservative area," he told the Telegraph. He may want to stay there because it's an area that's more conservative, more like the Old South and those old attitudes die hard. If the case makes it to trial, both sides would aggressively work to rule out jurors who they think could be biased against them. I would assume in a case like this that the lawyers would send out a fairly detailed jury questionnaire because you would want to strike off people depending their attitudes to race and their experience of crime.