Judge: Prosecution audio experts can’t testify on screams in call in Zimmerman trial

SANFORD, Fla. – The judge in the murder trial of a former neighbourhood watch volunteer who shot to death an unarmed black teenager ruled Saturday that prosecution audio experts who point to the victim as screaming on an emergency call

Judge Debra Nelson reached her decision after hearing arguments that stretched over several days this month on whether to allow testimony from two prosecution experts. One expert ruled out neighbourhood watchman George Zimmerman as the screamer and another said it was the teenager Trayvon Martin. Defence experts argued there was not enough audio to determine who the screams are coming from. Zimmerman’s attorneys also argued that the state experts’ analysis is flawed.

Nelson ruled that the methods used by the experts aren’t reliable. But her ruling doesn’t prevent the emergency calls from being played at trial.

The screams are crucial pieces of evidence because they could determine who the aggressor was in the confrontation. Martin’s family contends it was the teen screaming, while Zimmerman’s father has said it was his son.

Opening statements are set for Monday in the second-degree murder trial of Zimmerman who says he fired on the teenager in self-defence last year. Zimmerman is pleading not guilty.

Martin’s shooting death and the initial decision not to charge Zimmerman led to public outrage and demonstrations around the nation, with some accusing Sanford police of failing to thoroughly investigate the shooting.

The elimination of the audio experts will likely shorten the trial by a week. Before the ruling, attorneys had predicted the trial could last two to four weeks after opening statements.

A spokeswoman for prosecutors didn’t immediately return an email Saturday.

Audio experts from both sides testified at different times during the hearing, which stretched over three weeks. Voice experts were hired by lawyers and news organizations to analyze the calls, which were made during the confrontation between the two. The experts arrived at mixed conclusions.

In deciding whether to admit the voice-recognition technology used by prosecution audio experts Tom Owen and Alan Reich, Nelson had to determine whether it is too novel or whether it has been accepted by the scientific community at-large.

“There is no evidence to establish that their scientific techniques have been tested and found reliable,” the judge said in her ruling.

Owen was hired by the Orlando Sentinel last year to compare a voice sample of Zimmerman with screams for help captured on emergency calls made by neighbours. He said Zimmerman’s voice doesn’t match the screams. He only compared Zimmerman’s voice to the emergency calls because he didn’t have a voice sample for Martin at the time.

“The screams don’t match at all,” Owen testified during the hearing. “That’s what tells me the screams aren’t George Zimmerman.”

Reich testified in a report for prosecutors that the screams on the emergency call tapes were from Martin, and the defence does not want him to testify at trial.

In contrast, a British audio expert testified for the defence that it would be extremely difficult to analyze voices by comparing screaming to a normal voice.

“I’ve never come across a case in my 13 years where anybody’s tried to compare screaming to a normal voice,” said audio expert Peter French.

A second audio expert for the defence, George Doddington, also criticized prosecution experts who said Friday that screams and pleas on a emergency call recording likely belonged to Martin.

“It’s all ridiculous,” Doddington said.

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Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/khightower .

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP .

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