The Columbia man charged with killing Nikki McPhatter of Charlotte in May 2009 is expected to go on trial today.

Lawyers for Theodore Manning IV begged prosecutors last month to accept their client's guilty plea to avoid a trial, according to the State newspaper.

"I now implore you to agree to meet with us... to discuss this case so that it may be resolved prior to the scheduled trial date," assistant public defender Luke Shealey wrote in a Sept. 9 letter made public Monday.

But 5th Circuit Solicitor Barney Giese, in a reply dated Sept. 14, refused to meet with Manning's lawyers, saying he was seeking the maximum punishment - life without parole, the State reported.

McPhatter, 30, a US Airways employee, met Manning, 30, through an Internet dating service. She disappeared, prosecutors allege, after going to Columbia to end the relationship.

McPhatter’s body was found days later in a burned-out car in Fairfield County.

In a Richland County courtroom Monday, a jury of seven men and five women was seated. Manning's lawyers raised the possibility that he may say he acted in self-defense, according to the State.
 

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