Trayvon Martin Trial Day 10: Trayvon Martin’s Father Tracy Martin Takes the Stand

By: Taren Vaughan

Several members of Trayvon Martin’s family took the stand at the end of last week to give their testimonies. His mother Sybrina Fulton was the first of Trayvon’s family members to testify as she was questioned about whose screams were heard on the 911 calls. And she said there was no doubt in her mind that the screams were coming from Trayvon despite George Zimmerman’s mother Gladys and his uncle Jorge Meza claiming otherwise. In addition to his mother giving her testimony, Trayvon’s brother Jahvaris Fulton also gave his and said his brother’s death is still surreal to him as they were extremely close. And he too confirmed it was Trayvon’s screams that were captured on the tapes. Trayvon Martin’s father Tracy Martin took the stand today in court to give his testimony in the case and he was questioned about the initial comments he made when he heard the recorded 911 calls, ABC News reports:

Trayvon Martin’s father took the stand today and challenged the testimony of two police officers who had testified that he said it was not his son screaming for help on 911 tapes.

Two police officers described today how Tracy Martin, the slain teenager’s father, listened to the tapes of the 911 calls two days after his son was killed. The screams for help could be heard in the background.

The father said , however, that he did not deny it was his son’s voice.

“[I] shook my head and said I can’t tell,” Tracy Martin told the Florida court. “I never said that no, it was not my son’s voice.”

During cross examination led by prosecutors, Trayvon’s father Tracy said listening to the tape was a very hard thing for him to do and that his “world turned upside down that day” as he realized he would never see his son alive again:

“I was listening to my son’s last cry for help. I was listening to his life being taken. I was coming to grips with Trayvon was here no more. It was tough,” he said.

Former Sanford police chief Bill Lee spoke for the first time on the case since he lost his job and said Trayvon’s whole family listened to the tapes in the mayor’s office without him being present in the room. And before Tracy Martin gave his testimony, Sanford police officers Chris Serino and Doris Singleton took the stand again and claimed Trayvon’s father said it was not his son’s voice heard on the tapes:

“I believe my words were, ‘Is that your son’s voice in the background?'” said investigator Chris Serino.

“What was his response?” asked Zimmerman’s lawyer Mark O’Mara.

“It was more of a verbal and non-verbal. He looked away and under his breath said, ‘No,'” responded Serino.

Serino, the lead investigator in Martin’s death, said he played the tapes for Tracy Martin two days after his son’s death on Feb. 26, 2012. He said the father was desperate for answers about his son’s death.

The investigator said he played five or six of the 911 calls for Tracy Martin in which the screams for help could be heard in the background.

During her trip to the stand today, Officer Doris Singleton said she got emotional when she was watching the tapes being played for Trayvon’s father:

“I could feel for him because I have children,” said Singleton. “I could see him wiping tears from his eyes…You could see that he was upset.”

She, too, said that Tracy Martin said he did not believe the screams were made by his son.

Serino later said when cross examined by the prosecution that Zimmerman also said “that doesn’t even sound like me” when asked about the screams.

Before the officers gave their testimonies, five of George Zimmerman’s friends and co-workers took the stand and they said the screams were coming from George before he shot Trayvon:

“It’s Georgie,” said family friend Sandra Osterman when asked about the screams. “I know it.”

John Donnelly, who called Zimmerman a “dear friend,” told the jury, “There is no doubt in my mind. That is George Zimmerman and I wish to God I did not have the ability to make the determination,” he said, wiping his eyes.

Donnelly, a former Army medic during the Vietnam war, reinforced his opinion under cross examination.

“The voice screaming in that video is absolutely George Zimmerman, sir,” he testified.

George Zimmerman’s MMA instructor Adam Pollack also took the stand today and claimed Zimmerman was “nonathletic” and “just physically soft,” implying that George Zimmerman’s fighting skills are not up to par.

Here are the video clips from Day 10 of the trial: