Zimmerman Hearing On Voice Experts Will Continue Saturday
SANFORD (CBSMiami/AP) — For the second straight day, a Florida judge considered whether to allow voice experts to testify at George Zimmerman's trial for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012. Now the hearing will continue through Saturday before the judge makes a decision.
The two experts spent all day testifying but the testimony for the hearing will continue through Saturday before Circuit Judge Debra Nelson makes her decision.
The expert was hired by an Orlando newspaper testified Friday that screams for help on 911 calls don't match neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman's voice.
Tom Owen was hired by the Orlando Sentinel last year to compare a voice sample of Zimmerman with screams for help captured on 911 calls made by neighbors. He said Zimmerman's voice doesn't match the screams. He only compared Zimmerman's voice to the 911 calls because he didn't have a voice sample for Martin at the time.
"The screams don't match at all," Owen said. "That's what tells me the screams aren't George Zimmerman."
Owen also testified that remarks Zimmerman made in a conversation with a police dispatcher aren't a racial slur. He testified Zimmerman said, "These f------ punks."
An FBI expert testified a day earlier that there wasn't enough clear sound on the 911 recordings to determine whose voice it was. Hirotaka Nakasone also said the concept that individuals have unique voice-prints that identify them is misleading. "No one can speak in the same way twice," Nakasone said.
The screams captured on the 911 calls are crucial pieces of evidence since they could determine who the aggressor was in the confrontation. Martin's family contends it was the teen screaming, while Zimmerman's father has said it was his son.
The trial starts Monday and Zimmerman is pleading not guilty, claiming self-defense.
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