Investigation into O'Mara's handling of Zimmerman case still open with Florida Bar

ORLANDO, Fla. — There are new developments in the Florida Bar's investigation into George Zimmerman's attorney and his handling of the case.

Zimmerman was acquitted earlier this year in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, used his blog Tuesday to clear the air about an ethics complaint. O'Mara said he initiated the investigation by reaching out to the Florida Bar, asking for proper rules of setting up a fund for a client and for using social media.

O'Mara set up a legal defense fund for Zimmerman on GZdefensefund.com and used social media, an effort that gathered support leading up to Zimmerman's trial.

O'Mara started the website to help pay for the defense that would eventually clear Zimmerman of all charges.

In his blog O'Mara wrote that the defense fund and uses of social media during the case prompted questions by the Florida Bar before and during the trial, questions that prompted an investigative file to open and not yet close.

O'Mara wrote, "The Florida Bar had no rules on how to handle such things."

He went on to say, "If we moved forward with our plans for the defense fund and our online presence, we would be breaking new ground and that meant taking an extraordinary risk."

O'Mara wrote he was responding because of "inaccurate speculation," and that he and his team handled the funding for Zimmerman's defense in an appropriate and ethical way.

O'Mara has distanced himself from Zimmerman since the end of the trial.

Zimmerman's most recent domestic violence charges were dropped but he had initially sought help from an attorney out of Miami for that case.

WFTV