George Zimmerman to Be Charged in Trayvon Martin Case

George Zimmerman will face criminal charges in the death of Trayvon Martin.

According to a senior law enforcement quoted by CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC and the Associated Press, the neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla., will be charged criminally in the February 26 case that has captivated the nation.

A legal analyst said that the most likely charge would be manslaughter.

A press conference announcing the decision is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Angela Corey, the special prosecutor appointed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to look into the incident, has stated that she will not take the case to a grand jury.

That automatically ruled out first-degree murder as an option.

Lawyers for Zimmerman, 28, stepped down from the case, saying he was uncommunicative and expressing concern for his emotional and physical well-being.

"As of the last couple days, he has not returned phone calls, text messages or emails," Craig Sonner, one of Zimmerman's former attorneys, said. 

"He's gone on his own. I'm not sure what he's doing or who he's talking to. I cannot go forward speaking to the public about George Zimmerman and this case as representing him because I've lost contact with him."

Describing Zimmerman as "emotionally crippled" by the scrutiny he's faced in the wake of the shooting, attorney Hal Uhrig said Tuesday that he and Sonner are concerned for their former client's mental and physical well-being.

They also implied that he may have left Florida in the wake of media coverage.

Sonner and Uhrig told reporters that Zimmerman, against their advice, had contacted the special prosecutor, Corey. He also set up his own website to collect donations without his lawyers' knowledge, they have said.

George Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, maintains he was acting in self-defense when he shot the African-American Trayvon Martin, 17. The teen was killed shortly after Zimmerman called 911 after seeing him in his neighborhood at night.

Martin was unarmed at the time, but police found insufficient evidence to prove Zimmerman acted outside Florida's controversial "Stand Your Ground" law.

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