LIVE: Bill Lee Resignation as Sanford Police Chief Rejected

Impact

Update: Bill Lee Resignation Rejected by City Council: The Sanford city commission rejected the resignation of the police chief harshly criticized for his handling of the Trayvon Martin case, reported the Associated Press.

CBS News reports, "The commissioners voted 3-2 Monday to reject the resignation of Bill Lee. The majority blamed the uproar surrounding Martin's death on outsiders."

1:40 PM Police Chief Resigning: On the same day as George Zimmerman's release on bail, Sanford's police chief will officially resign, sources told ABC News.

Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee was expected to resign at 4 p.m. ET. He had been temporarily suspended last month, according to ABC News.

12:30 PM George Zimmerman lawyer sorry for client's Trayvon Martin apology

Mark O'Mara tells CBS he didn't realize Trayvon’s parents — Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin — would find Zimmerman's apology inappropriate

10:00 AM Zimmerman Leaves Jail: Florida authorities released George Zimmerman Sunday evening on $150,000 bail, as he awaits his second-degree murder trial for the shooting of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman was wearing a brown jacket and blue jeans. He also was carrying a paper bag as he walked out of the jail around midnight Sunday. 

According to The Daily Caller, "He walked out following another man and didn’t look over at photographers gathered outside. He then followed the man into a white BMW vehicle and drove away." 

"No questions were shouted at Zimmerman from members of the news media at the scene, and he gave no statement," USA Today reports.

Zimmerman was apparently headed for an undisclosed location.

Zimmerman’s attorney worked Sunday to secure the money for bail and a safe place for the 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer to stay. 

Residents in Sanford, where Martin was killed, didn’t expect an sorts of public outburts once Zimmerman was released. City commissioners haven’t received calls from nervous residents. Protesters haven’t appeared outside the jail. And talk at one local coffee shop seldom focused on the case.

The Daily Caller further reports

“It’s just kind of a non-issue now,” said Michele Church, a server at Mel’s Family Diner, to the Washington Post. “That’s pretty much all anybody in Sanford wanted, was an arrest, so it could be sorted out in the court system.”On Friday, a Florida judge agreed to let Zimmerman out on $150,000 bail. Defense attorney Mark O’Mara has said there are several options for where Zimmerman should go, but would not disclose any of them. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester on Friday indicated Zimmerman would be allowed to leave the state if arrangements with law enforcement could be made for him to be monitored.Zimmerman will be fitted with an electronic device.About a half-dozen photographers and cameramen remained camped outside the Sanford jail Sunday, focused on the door marked “Bonds Rooms,” where other people who had been arrested and released on bail exited. By mid-afternoon there was still no sign of Zimmerman, who entered the jail about a week earlier after more than a month of nationwide protests calling for his arrest.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to properly cite language that was originally used without attribution to The Daily Caller, CBS News, and USA Today. We apologize to our readers for this violation of our basic editorial standards. Mic has put in place new mechanisms, including plagiarism detection software, to ensure that this does not happen in the future.