Wis. man faces trial for shooting teen neighbor

Dinesh Ramde | Associated Press

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The attorney for a Milwaukee man who fatally shot his 13-year-old neighbor says his client did not mean to kill the boy.

John Henry Spooner is charged with killing 13-year-old Darius Simmons last year. Spooner confronted Darius because he believed the teen had stolen guns from his house.

Spooner is white and Darius was black, prompting comparisons to the case of neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

But Spooner's attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, says the cases are very different. He says the main similarity is that both victims were black teens.

Zimmerman was acquitted Saturday in the Florida shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Gimbel acknowledges Spooner shot Darius. But he says an expert will testify that Spooner had mental illness that kept him from realizing his actions were wrong.