George Zimmerman trial: Jury can consider lesser charge of manslaughter

The judge in the George Zimmerman murder trial will give the jury the option of convicting him of a lesser charge, despite objections from the defense. Some legal analysts say prosecutors were not confident of their case for second-degree murder in the Trayvon Martin shooting.

By Patrik Jonsson,?Staff Writer / July 11, 2013

Judge Debra Nelson gives instructions to attorneys during George Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla., Thursday. Mr. Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, but the judge said she will instruct jurors that they can also consider the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Gary W. Green/Orlandon Sentinel/AP

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After three weeks of testimony ranging from wrenching to bizarre, Seminole County Court Judge Debra Nelson agreed to allow a six-woman jury in the George Zimmerman murder trial to consider convicting Mr. Zimmerman of manslaughter, a lesser charge than the initial second-degree murder charge.

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"The court will give the instruction on manslaughter as a Category One," Judge Nelson said, in a significant development on Thursday.

While it?s not unusual for prosecutors to try to hedge their bets, some criminal justice experts say the move indicates that the state has doubts that the jury would find that Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager, out of ill will or spite, the foundation of a second-degree murder conviction.

The prosecution isn?t ?blind to the fact that they haven?t proven second-degree murder,? Florida defense attorney Jose Baez, who successfully defended Casey Anthony against capital murder charges for allegedly killing her own daughter, told USA Today.

A second-degree murder conviction could mean life in prison for the 29-year-old former neighborhood watch captain. A manslaughter charge in Florida carries up to 30 years in state prison.

The jury will return to Seminole County Court in Sanford, Fla., at 1 p.m. to begin to hear closing arguments.

The trial has captivated much of the nation, being the closing chapter of a parable about racial stereotyping, gun rights, and societal crime fears. Trayvon, who'd had some trouble in school but had never been arrested, was returning from a convenience store with candy and a drink when he, according to testimony, told a friend on the phone, Rachel Jeantel, that a ?creepy, white, kill-my-neighbors cracker" was following him.

The shooting sparked massive protests after Sanford, Fla., police refused to arrest Zimmerman, saying his self-defense claim couldn?t be countered. The racial specter that still hangs over the case is the question of whether police ? and society ? would have reacted the same way had an armed black man pursued a white teenager, and then shot him dead after a fight.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/WIGC7_rePBI/George-Zimmerman-trial-Jury-can-consider-lesser-charge-of-manslaughter

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