Another neighbor said he had heard voices “arguing.”
Another said that he had seen the person he thought was Martin on top of the person he thought was Zimmerman, punching him, and that Zimmerman was the one yelling for help.
The 911 call that recorded the last 45 seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life could be a crucial piece of evidence in the case against George Zimmerman, but what exactly was recorded is not clear.
Original audio: First 911 call | View transcript
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In the first seconds, there is a yell in the distance.
Audio forensics specialist Alan R. Reich hears Martin shouting “I’m begging you.”
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At the end of the 45 seconds, right before the gunshot, Reich hears a high-pitched “Stop!”
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This spectrograph, which shows the vocal characteristics of the recording, helped Reich phoenetically break down the word ‘stop.’
See how Reich analyzed the recording »
At least two others said that they did not hear any fighting at all, only moans and whines that they are certain came from “a boy,” and that when they looked outside just after the gunshot, they saw Zimmerman straddling Martin, who was face down.
They and others watched as police began to arrive, and Zimmerman stood up and started pacing, his hand on his forehead.
There was also the reaction of Martin’s and Zimmerman’s parents. Zimmerman’s father told investigators that he was “absolutely, positively” certain his son was the one yelling for help on the recording. Martin’s mother said she had no doubt it was her son screaming. In an interview with police, Martin’s father listened to the recording and, distraught, said it was not his son, but soon after that he said that he was certain it was.
All of which leaves the question of how you hear the 45 seconds when you can’t hear the 45 seconds, when the context is conflicting and subjective and emotionally charged, when there is an expert such as Reich arguing with certainty about what can be discerned and another such as Ryan claiming that little can be discerned at all.
Ultimately, the only answer to that question that will really matter, if the case goes to trial, is the jury’s. How it hears the 45 seconds, said Stephen A. Saltzburg, a law professor at George Washington University, will depend partly on the machinations and strategies deployed during the trial.
If the prosecution can convince jurors that Martin is screaming for help on the recording, it could become “enormously powerful,” Saltzburg said.
If the defense can convince them that the recording is ambiguous, it will help Zimmerman.
In either case, Saltzburg said, what the jurors hear will depend on human nature.
“Most trial lawyers believe, and most psychologists who study the way that people process information believe, that once people interpret something in a certain way, once they begin to believe something, they become committed to that,” he said. “And if they become committed, it’s hard to change their minds.”
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
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