SANFORD, Fla. – Two investigators in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin testified Monday that Martin’s father did not initially believe that his son was screaming in the background of a 911 call that is central to the second-degree murder case against George Zimmerman.
“He looked away and under his breath as I interpret it, said ‘no,’” testified lead investigator Chris Serino.
Serino met with Tracy Martin at Sanford police headquarters two days after his son was shot. Martin was hoping to find out why his son’s killer had not yet been arrested.
The scream “became significant to the investigation,” said Serino, because there had not been much evidence against Zimmerman’s self-defense claim.
Serino said Monday that Martin’s response to the call indicated that he believed “that the voice in the background was not that of his son’s.”
Serino said that he was not contacted again by Martin to listen to the recording or to say that he’d changed his mind about the identity of the individual heard yelling. Serino also testified that Martin’s fiance, present with Martin during his visit with Serino, also did not disagree with Martin.
Doris Singleton, another Sanford police investigator present at the time, also testified that Martin indicated that the scream “was not his son.”
The investigators’ testimony has been part of the Zimmerman defense’s focus on the 911 call. All of their witnesses since Friday have testified to the identity of the scream.
Detective Serino testified last week as a state witness saying that he generally found Zimmerman’s statements after the shooting to be consistent.
He did say that he believed that Zimmerman profiled Martin in some way and that Zimmerman’s comment referring to “fucking punks” could possibly be evidence of “ill-will” and “spite” — two key elements to the second-degree murder charge against Zimmerman.