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Live Coverage of the George Zimmerman Trial
Aired June 27, 2013 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RACHEL JEANTEL, TRAYVON MARTIN FRIEND: I did hear "get off," sir.
DON WEST, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: But you don't know what it meant because you didn't see any of this, correct?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: And you don't know now how long that took from the point that you heard something hit somebody until you heard the wet grass, until you heard the "get off," until the phone disconnected?
How long did that take?
JEANTEL: I don't know, sir. I was not timing it.
WEST: Well, in fact, I take it that you were in your house, trying to fix up your hair?
JEANTEL: Trust me, trust me, I had stopped.
WEST: Yesterday didn't you say that when this conversation was taking place you were fixing your hair?
JEANTEL: Yes. As Trayvon was waiting for the rain to slow down from the villa (ph) area, that's what I said.
WEST: And at what point then, if any, in this conversation did you pay particular attention?
JEANTEL: When I had called back.
WEST: Whether he was sort of whispering in the low voice, after he said he lost the man (ph)?
(CROSSTALK)
JEANTEL: When I had called back, yes, after he finished running.
WEST: All right. So were you still working on your hair or did you stop?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: Were you taking particular attention at this point?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: So you were -- were you on a handset or Bluetooth at that (inaudible)?
JEANTEL: Bluetooth.
WEST: Were you doing anything else other than listening intently to what was being said?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: What were you doing?
JEANTEL: Trying, listening to what's going on and trying to say, Trayvon, because I had my Bluetooth on.
WEST: You were still at home.
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: Doing anything else?
JEANTEL: I was in the bathroom.
WEST: Was the water running?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: Why not?
JEANTEL: Why I need the water on?
WEST: I don't know. I'm asking.
JEANTEL: I am trying to fix my hair. I don't need no water on. I put the iron down, the hair iron down after I called Trayvon back. And I called back; he answered and he told me he was -- he ran from the back.
WEST: So at that point you were still in the bathroom.
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: Any background noise at all?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: But -- and you had stopped fixing your hair and you were listening only to the phone call?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir. I had called him back.
WEST: Right. And that's when he had stopped running and that he was speaking in this lower, more like whispering voice? Correct?
JEANTEL: No, sir. I told you, he sounded tired because I had told him, keep running. He said he would not, he would just walk faster because he -- and I said OK because it is sounded to me like he was tired. His voice had changed, sir.
WEST: So the way he -- this was after he had lost the man.
JEANTEL: Yes, he ran from the back.
WEST: And he was tired from running?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: Is what you assumed?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: As if he had run a long way?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And that you knew his voice was lowered.
As opposed to his normal talking voice?
JEANTEL: I didn't say his voice -- I did not say his voice was lower.
WEST: You told Mr. de la Rionda on April 2nd that it was.
JEANTEL: It sounded like he was tired. That's what I told you.
WEST: We'll come back to that in a moment. But I don't want to lose track of what we're doing here.
So you were in the bathroom. And because of what Trayvon Martin was saying, you were paying more attention at this moment than you had been previously?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And that you knew at this point that he had run and that he had lost the man, correct?
(CROSSTALK)
JEANTEL: Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
WEST: And that his voice had changed.
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And you thought it was because he was tired from running?
JEANTEL: He sounded tired, sir.
WEST: And you don't know how far he may have run.
JEANTEL: No, sir. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) objection.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Overruled. It will be the last time for that question.
WEST: You don't know how far he had run.
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: And you have this conversation with him for a couple of minutes, and then he says he sees the man again?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And are you really paying attention now?
JEANTEL: I was been paying attention, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am sorry?
JEANTEL: I was been paying attention, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was --
JEANTEL: Been paying attention, sir.
WEST: So after you are talking to him on the phone, he seems out of breath for a couple of minutes. He says to you he sees the man again, and you pay particular attention now.
JEANTEL: I was been paying attention, sir, when I had called him back.
WEST: So the answer is yes, you were focusing on this?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And as he says he sees the man and as he confronts him and says, why are you following me, you're really paying attention then?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, mischaracterization in terms of the (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ask her a question and let it be her words.
WEST: He confronted him by saying, why are you following me, didn't he?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. (Inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll listen to your answer. You may answer.
JEANTEL: He told me that he was close to him.
WEST: Right. At that point he decided to approach this man and say, why are you following me? JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And he could have just run home if he wasn't there.
JEANTEL: He was already by his house. He told me.
WEST: Of course you don't know if he was telling you the truth or not?
JEANTEL: Why he need to lie about that, sir?
WEST: Maybe if he decided to assault George Zimmerman, he didn't want you to know about it.
JEANTEL: That's real retarded, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am sorry?
JEANTEL: That's real retarded to do that, sir, when you don't know the person (inaudible) person. Trayvon did not know him.
WEST: OK.
What I'm trying to get at is you are paying attention to this. Somebody or something hit somebody. In all of your statements before you said that's when the phone cut off and in your statement on April 2nd you're saying you heard a little, "get off, get off," and today you're saying it sounded like somebody rolling on the ground, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, mischaracterization as to the prior statements that she made.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that that response was because you asked her to describe what she meant by wet grass.
Objection sustained. You may ask your next question.
WEST: And what I am focusing on now is how long did that take for you to hear all of that stuff going on before the phone cut off?
JEANTEL: I don't know, sir. I wasn't timing it, sir.
WEST: Your sense of it? I know that you weren't timing it. You'd never said that before. So when you said it to Mr. de la Rionda, how long do you think it took since you were so concentrating on that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Asked and answered.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may answer the question.
JEANTEL: I don't know, sir.
WEST: But you knew something had just happened?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And in the statement on April 2nd is when you said "get off, get off," and it was kind of low, correct?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: Kind of low for a couple of reasons, one because it wasn't said very loudly or because the headset was somewhere else?
JEANTEL: I don't know, sir. I wasn't there, sir.
WEST: And you don't really know who actually said that, even if it were said, do you?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: It could have been Trayvon, is what you said, correct?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: So at the point, though, that all of that happened, you are saying now that you knew something had taken place?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: But the reason you didn't do anything about it, telling anybody what you had heard, come forward to the police, is because, in your mind, it was just a fight? Correct?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And, in fact, it was just a fight that Trayvon Martin started. That's why you weren't worried. That's why you didn't do anything. It was because Trayvon Martin started the fight and you knew that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, compound question, badgering the witness. Argumentative.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You may answer.
JEANTEL: No, sir. I had told you before I did not knew this man was out of jail (ph).
(CROSSTALK)
JEANTEL: I don't know what you're talking about.
WEST: I will say it again.
After you were concentrating so closely on that last part of the conversation with Mr. Martin, where he is speaking in a lower voice, for a couple of minutes, and then he says, "I see the man again."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to object as a mischaracterization as to the time that this witness heard Mr. Martin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Please rephrase the question.
WEST: After Mr. Martin ran, and you reconnected with him, you were talking with him for a couple of minutes before he told you he saw the man again, correct?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And during that time, he was speaking in this somewhat low -- that you considered to be out of breath tone.
JEANTEL: Yes, Israel.
WEST: And you started paying particular attention because he said to you he sees the man again or the man is following him?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
(Inaudible) the wind, sir, that's -- you can hear the wind, sir. I could hear the wind. That's how I know Trayvon was still walking, sir.
WEST: As opposed to hiding?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: So you think he was walking as opposed to hiding because you could hear wind on this headset?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: As if he couldn't be standing still and there could also be wind?
JEANTEL: Trust me (inaudible). Yes, sir.
WEST: At the point, though, where he tells you that he sees the man again or, as he said, "the man is right there..."
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: -- he decides to approach the man and say, why are you following me for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, argumentative and misstatement of the facts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
JEANTEL: No, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The objection has been sustained, so wait for another question. Thank you.
WEST: There is no question in your mind, is it, that Trayvon Martin, based upon what you said and what you -- what he said and what you heard that he approached the man and said, why are you following me for?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Same objection, your honor, and also a compound question. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
WEST: May we be heard at the bench?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Ask the question.
WEST: You believed at that point that Trayvon Martin approached the man and said, why are you following me for?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: Do you want to explain that?
JEANTEL: Trayvon told me the man was behind him and kept being close by him. That told me a lot.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).
JEANTEL: Close (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trayvon told me that the man was behind him, he kept being close by him. And what you said after that?
JEANTEL: (Inaudible). And I think at that point that the man was behind Trayvon, sir.
WEST: So he told you that he could see the man again, the man was behind him?
JEANTEL: Yes.
WEST: Correct?
JEANTEL: Close.
WEST: Sure.
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And if he were hiding somewhere and the man walked close to him, they would be close together, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Argumentative and (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
WEST: In any event, your sense of it was that they got close together at that point?
JEANTEL: He got close to Trayvon, yes, sir.
WEST: And you don't know whether the man was approaching Trayvon at that point and getting closer or whether Trayvon was approaching the man and getting closer?
JEANTEL: Trayvon would have told me he will call me back, sir, if he was going to approach him, sir.
WEST: So you are assuming that Trayvon didn't approach the man because he would have told you if he was going to confront the guy; he would call you back when it was over?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: In any event, you knew something was going to happen, I take it?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: You knew that he had said to the man, why are you following me for?
JEANTEL: Yes, sir.
WEST: And you knew in your mind that it was going to be a fight?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: But when you ...
JEANTEL: Maybe an argument.
WEST: You thought Trayvon Martin would approach a man he had never seen in his life and then he would ...
JEANTEL: I did not say Trayvon approached the man, sir.
WEST: Either way, either way, are you saying that you thought that Trayvon would have a discussion with the guy that he'd never met in his life, didn't know who he was, didn't know anything about him, this "creepy as cracker" and have a -- just a gentlemanly conversation about why you following me for?
JEANTEL: The dude was close. The man was close to him, sir.
WEST: So Trayvon decided instead of just running away to confront this guy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Argumentative.
WEST: Of course it's ...
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: All right. But at the end of all of this after you heard something hitting somebody, what you thought ...
JEANTEL: A bump, sir. A bump, sir. A bump.
WEST: We played it right at the beginning of this recording. Mr. De La Rionda said the last thing you heard was something hitting somebody, and you said yes.
JEANTEL: Objection. Improper impeachment based on the (inaudible) I will be glad to clarify.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
You may answer the question.
JEANTEL: I don't remember saying that, sir.
WEST: Given all of that, whatever it was, whether it was a bump, whether it was somebody hitting somebody, I thought, in fact, that you said it could have been for all you know Trayvon Martin smashing George Zimmerman in the face, is what you actually heard?
JEANTEL: What?
WEST: Yeah. Just earlier today.
JEANTEL: By who?
WEST: By you.
JEANTEL: You ain't get that from me.
WEST: After all of that that happened, you decided not to do anything because you thought it was just a fight and that you didn't need to come to Trayvon Martin's aid, did you?
JEANTEL: What? Repeat what your question again, sir.
WEST: Whatever that was that was happening that you were paying particular attention to, you decided that you didn't need to call anybody, call the police, report anything because you thought it was just a fight.
JEANTEL: I did call him back, sir.
WEST: Of course, but you didn't get an answer. Didn't that make you more worried?
JEANTEL: I called back again, sir.
WEST: And I would assume that would heighten ...
JEANTEL: And I had texted, sir.
WEST: Still no answer.
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: A couple of calls, a text, and no answer.
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: And the reason you didn't do anything was because you thought it was just a fight?
JEANTEL: And I thought his father was around there. WEST: But you thought it was just a fight because it was one you knew that Trayvon Martin was planning to start.
JEANTEL: No, sir. He would have told me, sir. He told me to call him back or he'll call me back, sir.
WEST: So you figure, then, that if Trayvon Martin was getting ready to sucker punch somebody and get in a fight, that he would have told you, let me take care of this and I will call you right back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Argumentative. Speculation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
WEST: Is that what you are saying that you are saying that if Trayvon Martin was getting ready to assault this man that he would have said, hang on a minute, I will call you back?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Same objection, argumentative.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just one second.
Overruled.
JEANTEL: No, sir, he would not allow me on the phone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, sir, he would not ...
JEANTEL: ... allow me on the phone with him if he was about to have a fight, sir.
WEST: I didn't understand that. Say that again.
What about that he would have told you if he was getting ready to have a fight?
JEANTEL: If he was going to confront the man he would have told me, oh, I'm about to confront a man to see what he want.
He did not tell me that, sir. He just told me he trying to get home, sir, but the man was still me -- following him, sir, so ...
WEST: So you're assuming that if Trayvon Martin were planning to confront this man and assault him that he would have given you a heads up?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, mischaracterization of the witness.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The witness' answer is what it is.
WEST: Has he ever told you that before, that he was going to assault someone and he'd call you back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection. Improper questioning.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not a question, so ... UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just want to make a statement of objection, your honor. We've had this issue before.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Counsel, please approach.
(END LIVE FEED)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux.
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Michael Holmes.
Of course, we've been watching this testimony in the George Zimmerman trial.
MALVEAUX: It is fascinating, it is riveting and, of course, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to get right back to it after this quick break, but obviously a star witness on the stand, critical to this case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUXL We have been watching round two of riveting testimony, obviously, from the young woman who was on the phone with Trayvon Martin. This was just moments before he was shot dead by George Zimmerman.
HOLMES: Yeah, her name is Rachel Jeantel. She's 19-years-old and she makes it pretty clear in her words and here body language that she doesn't want to be there.
MALVEAUX: George Howell is outside the courthouse. Tell us first of all, I mean, this has been going on for quite some time. They were supposed to take a lunch break. Why has this gone past the lunch break session and at this critical time?
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, as you just mentioned, it is a very critical moment for the defense. And keep in mind Rachel Jeantel has now been questioned for more than three hours today alone, yesterday more than an hour.
And what you find right now, they're going through everything. They're going through all the statements that she made to police, to attorney Benjamin Crump, and also the statements that she's making now, that she made to prosecutors, looking for any discrepancies.
This is really interesting. You find two schools of thought, two different ways to consume what she's saying.
Our anchor Ashleigh Banfield just an hour ago said, look, I'm an angry mom and when I hear these things ...
MALVEAUX: I'm sorry to interrupt you there, George. We're going to have to get back into it.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED)
WEST: ... because in your mind it was just a fight.
JEANTEL: I did, sir.
WEST: In the conversation that you had with Mr. De La Rionda on April 2nd, he asked you some questions about whether Trayvon Martin had told you the man had gotten out of the car. Do you remember those questions?
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: Let me take a minute and find the reference.
Mr. De La Rionda said to you in a question -- I will -- I could read it exactly or paraphrase it, but the conversation was that Mr. De la Ronda asked you ...
JEANTEL: May I see it, sir? May I see it, sir?
WEST: Yes, but let me set the stage, if I might.
Mr. De la Ronda said, but did he ever say the guy got out of the car?
JEANTEL: I don't remember, sir.
WEST: You don't remember that Mr. De La ...
JEANTEL: What are you talking about?
WEST: Here is what I am talking about, that Mr. De La Ronda asked you, did he ever say the guy got out of the car? And your response to him was, you want that, too?
Do you remember that?
JEANTEL: I don't remember that.
WEST: Let's play it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) ask for you to show her, so if you can please give her a copy, please.
WEST: (Inaudible) approach?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you may.
WEST: All right, let me direct your attention to this paragraph, ask you to read that.
And it's my note here underneath is what I thought I heard your answer was, so I want you to see if you remember that and if that was your answer and I'll ask you that.
(Inaudible).
JEANTEL: No, sir.
WEST: (Inaudible).
JEANTEL: That's not what I said.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't hear her.
JEANTEL: That's not what I said. That's your opinion, sir.
