The screams are clearly coming from a distraught male, whose repeated cries for help end abruptly with a gunshot. What is not clear from a recording of a 911 call, however, is the identity of the screamer: George Zimmerman, the volunteer community watchman, or Trayvon Martin, the unarmed 17-year-old he killed that night.
While jurors in Mr. Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial, in which opening statements are scheduled for Monday, may get to hear the recording in court, they will not hear the opinions of two audio experts for the prosecution about who the screamer is, or is not. One concluded that the voice was not Mr. Zimmerman’s; the other said it was very likely Mr. Martin’s.
In an order released on Saturday, the judge in the case, Debra S. Nelson, excluded their testimony. She said the science supporting the experts’ analyses “is not as widely accepted at this time” as the more established methods relied on by defense witnesses who said it was impossible to conclude whose voice it was.
A neighbor made the 911 call on Feb. 26, 2012, during the fatal encounter between Mr. Zimmerman, who is Hispanic, and Mr. Martin, who was black and was returning to a home where he was staying after buying snacks. Citing Mr. Zimmerman’s claims of self-defense, the police did not arrest him for six weeks, setting off protests nationwide.
