Trayvon Martin's Brother Gave A TV Interview That Could Help George Zimmerman's Defense
But after Martin's brother, Jahvaris Fulton, first heard that 911 call, he told a Florida TV reporter that he wasn't positive the screaming was Trayvon's, Zimmerman's lawyer Mark O'Mara pointed out in court Friday.
"The best evidence is his own words he spoke to the reporter," O'Mara told a court during Zimmerman's trial for second-degree murder.
The question of who screamed for help on the 911 call is important because Zimmerman claims he killed the unarmed 17-year-old back in February 2012 because he feared for his life.
The month after his brother was killed, Fulton gave an exclusive interview to Miami's CBS affiliate, in which he shared memories of his brother Trayvon. During that interview, Fulton told a reporter that the words "You're gonna die tonight" — which Zimmerman says Trayvon uttered — just didn't sound like his brother.
When the reporter asked Fulton if it was his brother screaming for help, he gave this response: "I'm not sure. I haven't even really listened to them [the tapes] that good. I would think that's my brother, but I'm not completely positive that's him."
In court on Friday, Fulton said he'd listened to the tape roughly 10 more times since he gave that TV interview and that now he believes it was his brother calling for help. Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, also testified it was her son yelling for help.
"I guess I didn't want to believe it was him, so I guess in that interview I said I wasn't sure," Fulton said. When he first listened to the interview, he added, his experience "was clouded by shock and denial and sadness."
Here's that interview. The segment about the 911 recording comes just after the 11-minute mark.