Lawyers to debate lesser charges in George Zimmerman murder trial

Jurors in the George Zimmerman murder trial are scheduled to return at 1 p.m. Thursday to hear closing arguments in the well-publicized case. But before then, lawyers will debate one of the trial’s most important issues: the jury instructions, and whether the judge will allow jurors to consider lesser charges.

Zimmerman, now 29, is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, an unarmed African American, on Feb. 26, 2012. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in a gated community in Sanford, Fla., had called police to report Martin as a suspicious person and followed him. He maintains that Martin attacked him when he got out of his car, and that he shot the teen in self-defense.

Prosecutors have asked Judge Debra S. Nelson to allow the six-person jury to also consider “lesser included charges,” such as manslaughter and aggravated assault. Second-degree murder requires the prosecution to prove that Zimmerman bore “ill will, hatred or spite” when he killed Martin, whom he had never seen before that fateful night. Allowing jurors to consider the lesser charges would be a way for prosecutors to hedge their bets.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara has said in court that he would oppose including the lesser charges. Arguments about that will come Thursday morning, outside the jury’s presence.

If convicted, Zimmerman could face life in prison on the murder charge, but the lesser charges could still carry decades in prison.

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