Zimmerman's Former Neighbor Says Cries on 911 Call Came From Teenager

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Jayne Surdyka, a former neighbor of George Zimmerman, testified on Wednesday that she believed the cry for help she heard the night that 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed belonged to a boy.

“I truly believe the second yell for help was a yelp,” Surdyka said during the trial. “It was excruciating. I really felt it was a boy’s voice.”

Surdyka also claimed as a part of her testimony that she heard multiple gunshots, while it is believed that only one shot was fired during the confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin. She also testified that for several minutes right before the shooting she could hear two voices, one softer and one more aggressive.

Other neighbors who witnessed the encounter also claim that they heard cries for help, cries which were recorded on their 911 calls. While the defense says the cries belong to Zimmerman, the prosecution asserts they belong to Martin. The defense was successful at preventing the inclusion of prosecution experts who believed the voice crying for help belonged to Martin.

Prosecutors found out on Wednesday from judge Debra Nelson that they would be allowed to use five police dispatch calls that Zimmerman made in the months before his encounter with Martin on Feb. 26, 2012.

According to prosecutor Richard Mantei, the calls show Zimmerman’s “ill will.”

“It shows the context in which the defendant sought out his encounter with Trayvon Martin,” Mantei told the Houston Chronicle.

Defense attorney Mark O’Mara says that the minutes right before Zimmerman shot Martin are the important part of the case, and that the calls are irrelevant.

Zimmerman calls himself a neighborhood watch volunteer in the calls and says that there have been many recent break-ins in his neighborhood.

In one call, he describes suspicious Black men hanging around a garage before mentioning previous garage break-ins, and in another he asks officers to arrive soon because suspects “typically get away quickly.”

If Zimmerman is convicted of second-degree murder for killing Martin, he could face life in prison. As Martin was returning home from a convenience store, Zimmerman followed him in his truck and called the police before confronting the teenager. Zimmerman says that the fatal shot was fired in self-defense after Martin attacked him and started to slam his head into the sidewalk.

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