Trayvon Martin case 911 call: Two experts reach two very different conclusions

[PoliticAverse]

...

“There’s gunshots. . . . Just one,” the woman says on the only 911 call to record what was happening in the dark at the Retreat at Twin Lakes, a gated townhouse community in Sanford, Fla., on the night of Feb. 26.

And amid the conflicting, hazy and at times emotional reports from neighbors who heard and glimpsed only fragments of what was happening during those crucial seconds, the audio recording of them — from the start of the call at 7:16:11 p.m. until the gunshot at 7:16:56 p.m. — is perhaps the closest prosecutors and defense attorneys may come to an objective witness to the events that night.

It remains unclear exactly how the recording might be used in the court case, now underway, in which neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who said he shot the unarmed 17-year old in self-defense, is charged with second-degree murder.

Zimmerman defense attorney Mark O’Mara said Friday on CBS that the recording would require “a lot of forensic work-up.” And last week, Florida special prosecutor Angela B. Corey released a trove of documents that included an FBI analysis stating that the recording is inconclusive and a witness list that includes two audio experts who have said the opposite.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trayvon-martin-case-911-call-two-experts-reach-two-much-different-conclusions/2012/05/19/gIQAtuapbU_story.html

[1monster]

1. Map of the subdivision, where Zimmerman parked his truck, and where Treyvon was killed.

on edit: this graphic is from the OP article above: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/trayvon-martin-case-911-call-two-experts-reach-two-much-different-conclusions/2012/05/19/gIQAtuapbU_story.html

[uppityperson]

2. Thank you, very interesting. Copying a bit for later reference...

There was also the reaction of Martin’s and Zimmerman’s parents. Zimmerman’s father told investigators that he was “absolutely, positively” certain his son was the one yelling for help on the recording. Martin’s mother said she had no doubt it was her son screaming. In an interview with police, Martin’s father listened to the recording and, distraught, said it was not his son, but soon after that he said that he was certain it was.

[Quixote1818]

3. It should be pointed out that they don't come to different conclusions about who was screaming

but how reliable the evidence is.

[cthulu2016]

5. Well, yes and no

If you mean they do not each identify a different person as yelling, yes.

But they certainly come to different conclusions on the question. One concludes it was Martin. One concludes it is unknowable.

[Igel]

4. He's claiming he can hear the stop burst after the /p/ and find a trace in the spectrograph?

That's ridiculous.

Just like he shows formant structure continuing for the /a/ after the closure. Oooh: Voiced phonation through a voiceless labial stop.

Yes, it looks like it could be "stop." But his analysis discredits him because he pushes it far too far.

Of course, if he *could* hear the stop burst he should certainly be able to hear the sounds of scuffling. And, presumably, respiration. So his claim is internally consistent, even if not entirely consistent with other data.

[Atman]

6. A slightly off-topic, but relevant, point...

I'm a bit annoyed at the constant references to this "neighborhood" being referred to as a "gated community." It is a non-descript cookie-cutter apartment/condo complex like a thousand others in the Orlando area. We rented a very similar place for our son for off-campus housing during college. This is how they make 'emin Florida.

I'm not sure why the emphasis on "gated community." Are they trying to make it sound like the young black kid was out of place? Was Zimmerman protecting his homestead in accordance with Florida law? This was no "gated community." It is AnyVille, Florida, which happens to have a security guard house at the entrance. The Orlando area is not a pleasant place, and the crime is terrible. Every new complex has a gated entranceway!