Trayvon Martin’s mother and brother testified Friday that the 17-year-old was screaming for help in the background of audio of a neighbor’s 911 call.
Sybrina Fulton and Jahvaris Fulton took the witness stand during the trial of George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder in Trayvon Martin’s shooting death. Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty and says he shot the teen in self-defense during a fight.
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After the audio played, prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda asked Sybrina Fulton, "Who do you recognize that to be?" She replied, "Trayvon Benjamin Martin," according to The Associated Press.
Identifying the screams on the 911 call could be critical to the case because it may help determine
who was the aggressor during the scuffle between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.
Under cross-examination, defense attorney Mark O'Mara suggested that Sybrina Fulton may have been influenced by others who listened to the 911 call, including relatives and her former husband.
O'Mara also asked Fulton hypothetically whether she would have to accept it was Zimmerman yelling for help if the screams did not come from her son. He also asked if she hoped Martin didn't do anything that led to his death.
"I heard my son screaming," Fulton said. "I would hope for this to never have happened and he would still be here."
Jahvaris Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s brother, also testified the screaming voice was that of Martin.
But O'Mara asked him why last year he had told a reporter that he wasn't sure if the voice belonged to Martin. Jahvaris Fulton, in explaining his comment to the reporter, told O'Mara he was "shocked" when he heard it.
"I didn't want to believe it was him," Jahvaris Fulton said.
O'Mara asked to play the television interview for jurors, but Judge Debra Nelson denied his request for the time being.
Jahvaris Fulton's testimony was broken up by efforts to unlock the evidence room adjacent to the courtroom. Unable to open it, court officials called a locksmith with a drill to help them out.
Before testifying, Sybrina Fulton posted on Twitter "I pray that God gives me the strength to properly represent my Angel Trayvon."
After the mother and brother testified, the doctor who performed an autopsy on Trayvon Martin took the witness stand. Associate Medical Examiner Shiping Bao started describing Trayvon Martin as being in pain and suffering after he was shot, but defense attorneys objected. The judge sustained the objection, and Bao was directed away from that line of questioning.
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Trayvon Martin lived from one to 10 minutes after he was shot, he estimated, and the bullet went from the front to the back of the teen's chest, piercing his heart.
"There was no chance he could survive," Bao said.
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