It has been nearly a month since George Zimmerman first stepped foot in the courtroom where his fate would be decided. And in the second week of testimony (the first two were allotted for jury selection), what really happened on that tragic night that Trayvon Martin was murdered is finally beginning to take shape.
State and defense attorneys will continue to hear from witnesses in the case in order to build or break the second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman.
Last week, the jury heard from a handful of witnesses, including Sanford police officers, neighbors who heard the screams, one neighbor who actually witnessed the fight, and Rachel Jeantel, often billed as the prosecutor’s star witness and the last person who spoke with Trayvon before he was killed.
The court also heard from a physician’s assistant who treated Zimmerman the day after the murder, and a crime scene investigator who told the court she didn’t find any blood on the sidewalk where Zimmerman claims his head was bashed continuously by Trayvon.
One of the most critical statements came from John Good, a neighbor who told police that he saw a black male in dark clothing on top of a lighter male in red or light clothing. He described the dominant male as throwing punches on the guy beneath him in an MMA-style fighting manner.
Today, testimony continues. The state’s remaining witnesses – the lead police investigator in the case, the medical examiner, and Trayvon’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton – have yet to testify.
Check below for the latest updates straight from the courtroom.
LATEST UPDATES FROM THE COURTROOM:
4:37 PM EST: Mark O’Mara cross examines Serino.
– Serino confirms that he knew facts about shooting before interview with Zimmerman.
– Serino wasn’t initially concerned with Zimmerman following Trayvon. Didn’t realize there were inconsistencies between two statements.
– O’Mara and Serino have a conversation about nightmares after trauma. O’Mara asks him if he’s ever fired service weapon? Serino: “No sir, I have not.”
– Did Zimmerman seem flat or uncaring after shooting? Serino says no, other than the fact that he wanted to go to school and work the next day. Serino found that “different.”
– O’Mara asks if Zimmerman’s video reenactment was consistent with prior interview? Serino says yes.
– When asked if Serino had evidence that Zimmerman acted in self-defense, Serino replied that he had information to support that idea.
– Serino said that Zimmerman’s account doesn “mesh” with his injuries. “In my view, yes, they were lacking.” (Zimmerman says he was hit 25 to 30 times)
– When Serino bluffed and told Zimmerman Trayvon’s phone had caught the entire scuffle, he said “Thank God.” That made Serino believe he was either telling the truth or a pathalogical liar.
2:30 PM EST: Chris Serino, the lead investigator in the Trayvon Martin case, is called to the stand.
– Serino recommended that Zimmerman be charged with manslaughter
– Says the police tried to identify Trayvon Martin at the scene, but all attempts were negative.
– BDLR plays an interview between Serino, Livingston and Zimmerman. The investigators play back the non-emergency call and question him about locations, times, and statement.
This is the entire transcript, as provided by TXANTIMEDIA. You can listen to the audio , here.
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1:47 PM EST: Mark O’Mara for cross examination of investigator Singleton.
– O’Mara asks how many suspects are willing to give info w/o being asked. Singleton: “most subjects” actually.
– O’Mara asks Singleton if Zimmerman told her he was screaming before he knew the 911 calls captured the screams. Singleton replies, “yes.”
1:30 PM EST: Court resumes. Singleton questioning continues.
– A video of Zimmerman being swabbed for DNA is played in court. Singleton was in room at time.
– Singleton tells the court that at that time Zimmerman noticed a cross on her neck and asked about it. He asked her if she was Catholic and she said “no, why would it matter.”
– “Because in Catholic religion it’s always wrong to kill someone.”
– Then he asked if they had identified the victim, which they hadn’t because he was dead. “He’s dead!” was Zimmerman’s response. Singleton said he drops his head.
12:30 PM EST: Court recesses for lunch. Will be back at 1:30 PM
11:15 AM EST: Sanford police investigator Doris Singleton takes the stand. She conducted George Zimmerman’s first taped interview.
– Singleton told Zimmerman that he wasn’t under arrest. Says he wasn’t promised anything for statement and seemed sober & capable of understanding rights.
– In audio you can hear Singleton ask Zimmerman is there anything that he wants to tell her about how Trayvon was shot. He tells her that there were robberies in neighborhood.
– “Is there anything you want to tell me…” about the boy being shot. Zimmerman then tells Singleton that there were a handful of robberies in the area and he started a Neighborhood Watch program.
– “I had never seen him before.” Zimmerman tells Singleton that he knows all the kids and adults in his neighborhood.
– Zimmerman tells Singleton that the boy (Trayvon) was walking around leisurely in the rain looking at houses. “These guys know the neighborhood very well.” He’s referring to the “burglars.”
– Zimmerman tells Singleton that Trayvon then circled his car. Zimmerman then rolled up the windows and continued to stay on the phone with dispatcher. Trayvon allegedly disappeared and Zimmerman got out to figure out what street he was on and to see what direction Trayvon went.
– “After he circled your car he disappeared again?” Zimmerman: “Yes ma’am.”
– Zimmerman says Trayvon then jumped out when he was going back to car after looking at street sign/address to better tell dispatcher where he was. That’s when Trayvon jumped out of a nearby bush and said “What the fuck is your problem homie?”
– Zimmerman on tape: “I don’t have a problem and he said now u do and he punched me in the nose.” Scuffle ensues. He said it felt like Trayvon was hitting him with bricks.
– “I was yelling, ‘help me! help me! he’s killing me!'”
– Zimmerman tells Singleton that Trayvon said, “You’re going to die tonight.” When Zimmerman shot him, Trayvon slid off and said “You got me” and then “Ow Ow.”
– Singleton asks Zimmerman to diagram what happened on a Google map of Retreat at Twin Lakes.
– Zimmerman is asked to write a written statement after the recorded interview. That statement is being shown in court. Singleton is asked to read it. It is cursive and she is having trouble reading Zimmerman’s handwriting.
– Bernie de la Riona (BDLR) asks Singleton if she told Zimmerman to refer to Trayvon as a “suspect.” She says no. Throughout the statement, Zimmerman calls the boy he shot a “suspect.”
– Zimmerman’s statement: “Several times the suspect told me to shut the fuck up as I was trying to get up.”
– “The suspect sat back, allowing me to sit up and said, ‘you got me.'” Zimm then explains that he got on top of Trayvon to hold his hands. He asks an approaching person to help him restrain Trayvon.
– Singleton confirms that Zimmerman referred to TrayvonMartin as a suspect in his written statement, but no where else.
10:58 AM EST: 15-minute recess. Dr. Nakasone excused.
9:00 AM: COURT RESUMES. Dr. Hirotaka Nakasone (FBI voice expert), takes the stand.
– Dr. Nakasone is listing his credentials. He is an FBI expert and senior scientist whose fields include speaker identification.
– He testified for the defense at the Frye hearing and was unable to identify the screams in the 911 call. Today he is testifying for the state.
– He has testified 25-30 times in voice recognition reliability. He has worked on 3000 cases.
– Dr. Nakasone says that yelling and screaming speech must be removed before analysis. Need 30 seconds of natural speech.
– During cross, Don West asks if more than one person should listen to audio at a time. Nakasone believes listening bias will affect a large group.
– Nakasone says that when people listen together, “they have a tendency to sort of follow the leader.”
– Nakasone: “Scream voice doesn’t just have a raised pitch.” Physiological/anatomical structure could be different as well. Hard to recreate and hard to pinpoint age of screamer.
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WHAT YOU MISSED LAST WEEK:
– For the seven most important things that happened last week, click here.
– To read commentary on Rachel Jeantel’s testimony, read Rachel Samara’s “What White People Don’t Understand About Rachel Jeantel,” and Christina Coleman’s “Why Black People Understand Rachel Jeantel.”
– For a full recap of each trial day, see below:
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Week 2, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Week 3, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15.
