Tag: George Zimmerman (page 6)

Judge Debra Nelson has issued her order on the admissibility of the testimony of the state's proposed voice/speaker identification experts: They will not be allowed to testify. The experts, Tom Owen and Alan Reich, had claimed to be able to analyze the cries for help in the background of a witness' 911 call.

The order is here. It is very easy to read and understand. Shorter version: The techniques and methodologies used by Owen and Reich to determine who was or was not crying out in the background of the call are new and novel, are not generally accepted in the scientific community, and are unreliable and backed only by Owen and Reich, each of whom have a personal stake in the acceptance of their opinions. In addition, Reich's testimony is likely to confuse the issues and mislead the jury. [More...]

At a short hearing today, the Judge in the George Zimmerman trial ruled on a defense motion to preclude the use of certain words at trial. Previously, she deferred ruling on the motion when both sides said they wouldn't mention the words in opening arguments. Diwataman has the video of the hearing. Today, the Judge ruled:

• Racial profiling may not be mentioned by the state. Profiling without reference to race is allowable, such as profiling by clothing or age. (the state has previously claimed Zimmerman profiled Martin as a criminal.)
• The state may not use the term "self-appointed" to describe his role in the Neighborhood Watch. The state agreed Zimmerman was appointed to to his position on the Watch. [More...]

The final 6 jurors in the George Zimmerman trial will be:

• B29
• B76
• B37
• B51
• E6
• E40

Alternates

• E54
• E13
• B72
• E28

Opening arguments begin Monday morning. Details of jurors, challenged jurors for whom race and gender neutral explanations had to be given by the parties, and the judges ruling on each to follow.

The hearing over voice/speaker identification is starting now, with Tom Owen as the state's rebuttal witness. He is present in court, not testifying by video conference as he did on direct examination at the earlier hearing.

Voir Dire of 40 prospective jurors is underway. The jurors, identified only by number, and whose faces are shielded from the cameras, are being questioned as a group.

In the first round, the questioning was limited to exposure to pre-trial publicity and whether sequestration would be a hardship. In this round, the juror's opinions and experiences on a variety of topics relevant to the case will be explored.

The goal during jury selection, from a defense standpoint, is to try to identify the most dangerous or biased jurors, not the best jurors. It is more a process of de-selection. [More...]

Round 1 of jury selection in the George Zimmerman case has concluded with 40 potential jurors passing for cause on the issue of pre-trial publicity.

They are: B12 B29 B76 B7 B35 B37 B51 B86 E6 E40 E44 E73 M75 B61 B72 E22 E13 E28 K80 K95 P67 G14 G29 G47 G63 G66 G81 H6 H7 H18 H29 H35 H81 H69 H86 I5 I19 I24 I33 I44

The defense accepted the group, but Mark O'Mara made it clear he had objected to some but was overruled.

Round 2 begins tomorrow. 30 jurors will be questioned in a group. This will include all other topics. Court will break tomorrow at 3:45 to get ready for the state's rebuttal witness (Tom Owen) in the Frye hearing on whether to admit the testimony of the state's voice/speaker identification experts.

The Judge in the George Zimmerman trial just announced the jury will be sequestered. She said the parties have stipulated the trial will last 2 to 4 weeks.

You can watch a live feed of proceedings here.

It's Day Three of jury selection in the George Zimmerman trial. We have llive-updating of Days 1 and 2 and this morning at the Forums. Comment threads are here. Diwataman has a list of questioned prospective jurors (by number, gender, race.) [More...]

Update: You can watch the proceedings live here. We are doing live updates in the forums here. Comments on the day's proceedings are here.

Update: Defense jury expert: Robert Hirschhorn. Mark O'Mara made another motion for continuance which was denied.

Jury selection begins today in the George Zimmerman trial. The pre-trial Frye hearing has not been concluded.

500 jurors received summonses. About 100 to 200 will appear tommorrow to begin filling out questionnaires.

There will be six jurors on the case. They will be sequestered when the trial starts. [More....]

The Frye hearing continues in the George Zimmerman case. Voice analyst Tom Owen testified today.

ABC News has obtained a clip of video from Trayvon Martin's cell phone with his voice. To my ear, Trayvon's voice sounds much deeper than the screams on the 911 call, which again tells me it's Zimmerman screaming.

I don't think aural spectrographic analysis or biometric voice comparisons like Tom Owen's should come into evidence under Frye or Daubert. The methodology is skewed because he is comparing a scream to spoken words, there's too much background noise, the environmental and recording conditions were too different, the scream samples aren't long enough, the quantity of words for comparison is insufficient, there are pitch issues because the screamer was under emotional stress, etc. He can't even give an opinion beyond "probable" in his words that it was not Zimmerman screaming. [More...]

There's an all day hearing going on in the George Zimmerman case. This morning was mostly taken up by the defense motion for sanctions for discovery violations pertaining to material on Trayvon Martin's cell phone. Recap here.

The Frye hearing on voice identification and speaker recognition is underway. You can watch live here. Due to scheduling issues, the defense is going first with one of its witnesses, FBI expert Dr. Hirotaka Nakasone. He was one of the examiners who examined the 911 call with screaming and the gunshot in the background. (Report here.)

He believes there are three challenges to biometric voice comparison.[More...]

George Zimmerman has won his appeal of Judge Debra Nelson's denial of his request to depose Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump about the interview of Witness 8, the woman on the phone with Trayvon Martin shortly before the shooting. (Background here.)

The opinion is here. Crump had intervened as a third party asserting various privileges. The appeals court noted he is not an attorney in the case (and not a prosecutor), and waived any privilege he might have had by having third parties from the media (ABC) present at the interview.

Crump said last night he will sit for the deposition. [More...]

Yesterday, George Zimmerman's lawyer posted and tweeted the defense fund was out of money and desperately in need of $75,000 to $150,000 for experts, deposition transcripts and other expenses.

Since then, they have raised $12,000. Some of the donors have explained why their are contributing.

“I don't know if George Zimmerman is guilty or not, but he deserves the ability to defend his self in court as best he can. This donation wouldn't be necessary if certain individuals and organizations hadn't attempted to act as his judge, jury, and executioner in the wake of that terrible night. Good luck, and may the truth prevail, whatever it may be.”

[More...]