A voice recognition researcher for George Zimmerman, James Wayman, is weakening the prosecutions evidence stating that the screams one hears in the background of the 911 call are not necessarily Trayvon Martin’s screams, but could also come from the ex-neighborhood watch volunteer.
Wayman was called Monday evening by defense attorneys, after the questioning of prospective jurors for Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial in the fatal shooting of Martin, and doubts that the screams came from just one person. He believes the 911 call was too brief a sample to draw conclusions from. Wayman also said he was “baffled” by the methodology of one of the experts claiming “that it was not enough data to do any reliable estimation of who the speaker is.” However, the prosecution’s experts are identifing Martin as the source of the screams, and testifying at the pretrial hearing that the screams do not match Zimmerman’s voice. Thus far, experts have reached mixed conclusions about whether the screams belong to Martin or Zimmerman.
While the prosecution team wants the voice recordings entered into the trial as evidence, the defense team does not want the experts to testify at Zimmerman’s trial.
During jury selection, which continued for a seventh day Tuesday, Circuit Judge Debra Nelson has been listening to testimony from voice-recognition experts. The judge must decide whether the prosecutors’ expert can testify by determining if the expert’s peer reviews are the same.
George Zimmerman, 29, is pleading not guilty to second-degree murder, saying he shot in self-defense.
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