George Zimmerman to serve probation in stalking case

SANFORD, Fla. — A Florida judge agreed to let former neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman serve probation for a year after his attorney entered a no contest plea Tuesday to resolve a misdemeanor charge of stalking a private investigator associated with a documentary on the black teenager Zimmerman killed.

Under a no contest plea, a defendant doesn’t admit guilt, and a conviction is withheld if the conditions of the plea are met. Zimmerman wasn’t at the courthouse during the hearing.

“Please counsel him,” Seminole County Judge Mark Herr told his attorney, Zahra Umansky. “Words do matter.”

The private investigator said he had hoped the case would have been handled as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.