[DoughtyOne]

Thank you for the explanation. And where does child abuse figure in? ;^)

I would hope that didn’t fly. There’s where I’d really have to draw the line.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

I'm not watching the live-stream right now, so I'm not entirely sure what they're arguing about re: child abuse. Looking at the chart of lesser-included offenses under Florida law, I see that Felony Murder (third degree) is listed as a "Category 2" lesser-included charge to second-degree murder - as I understand it, the judge may give an instruction on category 2 lesser-included charges over the objections of one party (but is not required to do so). Felony murder is typically defined as a death that occurs during the commission of some list of enumerated offenses.

Without having looked at the statute, I would guess that child abuse is one of the enumerated offenses for third-degree felony murder (or, possibly, that third-degree felony murder covers all felonies not covered by first- and second-degree felony murder), and the State is arguing that the jury should be instructed to consider whether Zimmerman was "abusing" Martin, and thus whether Martin's death occurred during the course of Zimmerman's "abuse."

As I said, though, I'm not watching the proceedings, nor am I familiar with the particular Florida statutes - this is just a guess based on my general understanding of criminal law, so take it with a grain mound of salt.