George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch leader accused of shooting Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, is offering to exchange autographs for cash, according to a CBS News/Associated Press report. Mr. Zimmerman, who faces a second-degree murder charge, is free on a $1 million bond while awaiting trial.

“The New George Zimmerman Defense Fund, at George’s request, will begin sending Thank You Cards to people who have contributed to the Defense Fund,” an update on The George Zimmerman Legal Defense Fund website, gzdefensefund.com, reads. “Each card will be personally signed by George. The identity of all donors will continue to be kept strictly confidential, and the envelope of the Thank You Cards will not have any reference to Mr. Zimmerman or the O’Mara Law Group.”

When news of the shooting first broke, donors gave money to TheRealGeorgeZimmerman.com, a website created by Mr. Zimmerman himself. At the request of George’s attorney, however, the website shut down and the funds in Mr. Zimmerman’s account were transferred to a trust account, and soon thereafter, to the independently managed George Zimmerman Defense Fund.

A message on Gzdefensefund.com notes that while little has been done to solicit donations since the funds became independently managed on May 3, 2012, the George Zimmerman Defense Fund has raised approximately $140,000.

“Currently, the balance of the George Zimmerman Defense Fund is at its lowest, and new funds must be raised to support George’s living expenses and legal costs through the end of the Self Defense Immunity Hearing and/or trial,” the message on Gzdefensefund.com adds.

The shooting of Trayvon Martin sparked national outrage, pitting those who think that Mr. Zimmerman engaged in racial profiling the night he shot Mr. Martin against those who think that the accused shooter was exercising his rights under the Sunshine State’s “Stand Your Ground” law.

According to the law firm of Hussein & Webber, Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” statue a person “is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if: He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.”

In the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin shooting, NBC’s editing of Mr. Zimmerman’s 911 call angered those defending the shooter.

In NBC’s edited version of Mr. Zimmerman’s 911 call, the defendant said, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.” In the unedited version of the 911 call, Mr. Zimmerman said, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good, or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.” Shortly thereafter, the defendant was asked by the 911 dispatcher whether Mr. Martin was white, black or Hispanic.

“What the hell? NBC, you cut out the 911 dispatcher’s question,” Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” said in April. “Zimmerman was answering a multiple-choice question. You make it sound like he was calling 911 to report aggravated blackness.”

Reactions from political pundits to the Trayvon Martin shooting have been, as one would expect, divided.

“What I’ve read is that Mr. Zimmerman—who, again, the New York Times refers to as a ‘white Hispanic’ and the rest of the media has now picked that up, ’cause that fits the template. You need white-on-black here to gin this up. I understand. He wants to be a cop. He just loves law enforcement, and he’s a self-appointed Neighborhood Watch commander, and he wanted to protect his neighborhood, and he just got a little overzealous and so forth,” Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show in March.

On the other side of the political spectrum, the Reverend Al Sharpton held a rally for Mr. Martin in Sanford. “We did not come here for a temporary leave of absence. We came for permanent justice,” Mr. Sharpton said at the time. “From top to bottom, we don’t need temporary relief. We need permanent change.”

Mr. Zimmerman’s trial is scheduled for June.