Jurors in the George Zimmerman second-degree murder trial in central Florida are heading into their weekend with a lot of courtroom drama and conflicting testimony to digest.
Friday’s action-packed, mind-gripping session saw the prosecution rest its case, and the judge reject a defense lame request to acquit Zimmerman of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last year.
The mothers of both Martin and Zimmerman listened to the same 911 recording of someone screaming for help, and each said she was convinced the voice was that of her own son.
The question of whose voice is on the recording could be crucial to the jury in deciding who was the aggressor in the confrontation between the neighborhood watch volunteer and the teenager.
Whosever screams the jury believes it belonged to will go a long ways, if not all the way, in determining whether Trayvon Martin’s parents get justice or if Zimmerman will get exonerated of murder charges.
“I heard my son screaming,” Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, said firmly after she was played a recording in which distant, high-pitched wails could be heard in the background as a Zimmerman neighbor asked a dispatcher to send police. Moments later on the call, there was a gunshot and the crying stopped.
But Zimmerman’s mother also took the stand on Friday and said exactly the same thing, only using different words:
“My son,” when asked whom she believes was screaming, setting up a showdown that will go on after the trial is over the jury retreats to decide on a verdict.
