Experts and pundits are speculating that George Zimmerman is likely to walk free. Zimmerman case judge, Debra Nelson, has allowed jurors to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter as well as the main charge of second-degree murder, both strongly denied by Zimmerman, who says he shot the unarmed teenager in self-defence.
Zimmerman could walk out of a Sanford, Florida courtroom a free man within days, sparking fears of backlash by many who believe Martin is dead largely because of his race.
Defence lawyers for George Zimmerman are expected to make their closing arguments on Friday, following 12 days of testimony. The prosecution spent two hours summarizing its case on Thursday.
The jury – six of them, all women – is set to begin its deliberations, almost a year and a half after the fatal shot that killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
In the state’s closing remarks Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda described George Zimmerman as a “wannabe cop” and said the neighbourhood watch volunteer had followed the teenager with a gun and provoked him into a fight.
“Trayvon is dead through no fault of his own,” he told the jury of six women.
“He is dead because another man made assumptions. Because his assumptions were wrong, Trayvon Benjamin Martin will no longer walk on this Earth.”
Without explicitly bringing up race, Mr de la Rionda said Zimmerman had “profiled” the young black hooded sweatshirt-clad teenager as a criminal.
“Who started this?” Mr de la Rionda asked the jury to consider. “Who followed who? Who was minding his own business? And of the two, who was armed?”
Self-defence case
In May, Zimmerman waived his right to a “stand your ground” pre-trial immunity hearing. His attorneys decided to try the case as self-defence instead.
Stand Your Ground is a highly controversial and confusing law that since 2005 has left a string of incidents throughout Florida and the invocation of “stand your ground” as a shield of immunity from prosecution.
Zimmerman attorney Don West had argued an all-or-nothing strategy, saying the only charge that should be put before the jury is second-degree murder.
“The state has charged him with second-degree murder. They should be required to prove it,” West said. “If they had wanted to charge him with manslaughter … they could do that.”
To win a second-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove Zimmerman showed ill will, hatred or spite — a burden the defence has argued the state failed to meet. To get a manslaughter conviction, prosecutors must show only that Zimmerman killed without lawful justification.
Allowing the jurors to consider manslaughter could give those who aren’t convinced the shooting amounted to murder a way to hold Zimmerman responsible for the death of the unarmed teen, said David Hill, an Orlando defence attorney with no connection to the case.
“From the jury’s point of view, if they don’t like the second-degree murder — and I can see why they don’t like it — he doesn’t want to give them any options to convict on lesser charges,” Hill said of the defence attorney.
Under Florida’s laws related to gun crimes, manslaughter could end up carrying a penalty as heavy as the one for second-degree murder: life in prison.
It is standard for prosecutors in Florida murder cases to ask that the jury be allowed to consider lesser charges that were not actually brought against the defendant. And it is not unusual for judges to grant such requests.
