George Zimmerman's attorney may request to delay the trial that is supposed to start next month after audio experts differed this week on whether the shouts for help captured on 911 calls are those of his client or 17-year-old shooting victim Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder for the Feb. 2012 shooting of Martin, a South Florida teen. Zimmerman admits to shooting Martin, but says he did so in self-defense. Prosecutors argue it wasn’t self-defense because Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchman, was following Martin.
A neighbor's 911 call before the shooting captured the sound of someone crying for help. The identity of the person screaming could be a key point in the case.
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In a new evaluation, forensic analyst Alan Reich
declared that the shouts for help came from Martin, "the younger of the two male speakers," according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Reich's report also indicates that Martin yelled, "I'm begging you," before a gunshot went off.
Harry Hollien and James Harnsberger of Forensic Communication Associates submitted another audio analysis of the 911 call, claiming the audio quality was insufficient to declare a definitive voice match. They did say, however, that some of the cries came close to matching Martin's voice, while others came close to matching Zimmerman's.
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Mark O'Mara, Zimmerman's lawyer, told the Sun-Sentinel he may ask for a delay of his client's trial, which is slated to start June 10 in Sanford, Fla., to give him time to find an expert to rebuke the analysis of the call.
Martin's family claims the voice is that of the South Florida teen, while Zimmerman's father has said in court he believes the cries are from his son.
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