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Live Coverage Of Zimmerman Trial
Aired July 01, 2013 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had mentioned -- and I'm going to skip around just a little bit -
DET. DORIS SINGLETON, SANFORD POLICE: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And take the subjects rather than the timeline. I think the timeline was gone through.
And, of course, the entirety of your true interaction with Mr. Zimmerman was on the tape, correct? It was small bits that were not?
SINGLETON: A little bit before I could get it started.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
SINGLETON: Introductions towards -- to each other when I walked in the room, I'm sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SINGLETON: And something that might have been said as I walked out, but -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure. The substance of it we've all heard now from the tape itself?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And as to that interview, you don't have a great deal of testimony that you can offer the jury except to listen to the tape, correct?
SINGLETON: Pretty much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as - OK. So why are we questioning you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But then why then would we spend a few minutes questioning you? We're going to try and move it along, but obviously, as you know from previous testimony, I just want to make sure we set the stage properly and anything that may have some inquiry, you know, will move forward. So --
SINGLETON: OK. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The - let's go to one of the parts that were talked to about - by Mr. (INAUDIBLE) concerning what wasn't on the tape. And that was the part about the -- whether or not you were Catholic or Christian. And I wanted just to spend a moment on that, if I might. He noticed your cross, I think he said?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And asked you whether or not you were Catholic?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he told you that he was Catholic?
SINGLETON: I don't know that he said he was Catholic. He asked if I were Catholic and I told him that I wasn't, so I assumed that he was Catholic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. And then you told him you were Christian and his response was what again?
SINGLETON: Because in the Catholic religion, it is always wrong to kill somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your response to that?
SINGLETON: Was that if what you're telling me is truthful, then I don't believe that that is what God means when he means to kill somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it your opinion that if what he was telling you is true -- presuming that it was true, it was your suggestion then to comfort him in whatever he was working through?
SINGLETON: To let him know if he was being truthful, that he was in fear for his life and he had to kill Trayvon, that I don't believe that was what God meant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And then I think it was just right after that that you had said that Trayvon Martin was not identified yet?
SINGLETON: We did not know who he was at the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was - yes. And that was when you communicated that to George Zimmerman, correct?
SINGLETON: I don't know if it was directly at that same moment, but, yes, he -- we spoke about not being able to know who the victim was.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Uh-huh.
SINGLETON: Or I made a statement, I don't know what it was in response to, was that we hadn't yet identified the victim.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And his response was that he didn't even realize that Trayvon Martin had passed, correct? SINGLETON: He - he gave me, yes, like a blank stare on his face and said, you know, what do you - what do you mean you don't know the victim? I said, well, we don't know who he is. And he said, he's dead? And I said - I asked him - I mean I said to him, I thought you knew that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At which point he just sort of sunk his head down, looking down to the floor? Or to his stomach?
SINGLETON: Well, towards the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the table. And shook his head, no?
SINGLETON: Yes. I mean I can -- something like this. And then like he was just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did that evidence to you?
SINGLETON: I believed him that he didn't realize that he was dead based on what I had seen, but I don't want to speculate as to what it meant beyond that. I'm not sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was questions about - and it was on the tape about him needing medical care. That was a concern of his, was it not, at least at one point?
SINGLETON: Yes, at one point he said he wasn't sure if he should go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. But it was such that you talked about it and he was willing to continue with the interview rather than go to the hospital, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did that cause you any concern?
SINGLETON: No, only because (INAUDIBLE) had already seen him and I assumed that they had said it was OK for him to come to the police department if he had.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. During the interview with you, and I know that you would defer to the tape, but since you were the one sort of three dimensional there with him, did he evidence that he was angry with Trayvon Martin?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That he had hatred for him?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spite or ill will?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That he had anything that would suggest to you some type of bad attitude towards Trayvon Martin?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rather, he seemed to be affected by the fact that he realized that Trayvon Martin had passed?
SINGLETON: He seemed affected by that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were, aside from Officer Tim Smith, really the first officer to have a detailed conversation or any conversation with him about this case, right?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was about - you gave us the time, but tell us again, if you can, if you recall the timing of it.
SINGLETON: I believe I was called about 8:00. So probably about - prior to 9:00 maybe I was speaking to him, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So any of this happen at 7:15, 7:30 and he was transported after being seen by medical, you got to him within an hour and a half of the event?
SINGLETON: I believe so.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know if he had contact with anybody else besides Sanford Police Department?
SINGLETON: I don't know. I only know what was told to me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was --
SINGLETON: Rescue, police, that was all I knew about.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course though not arrested, he was in police control or custody literally from the scene forward, was he not?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And his phone was taken from him, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mention was made that -- first of all, you took the taped statement, correct, and we've heard that. And then you asked him to do a written statement. Why have both?
SINGLETON: I believe Chris Serino (ph) asked me to have him put it on a written statement.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
SINGLETON: I believe Chris Serino had asked me to have him put it on a written statement as well. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And with that microphone, it's very sensitive. If you get within about an inch or so, we can't hear. If you get more than five inches back, we can't hear either. So there's a range in there that if you can try and stay with it, it will help the jury hear us and all of us (INAUDIBLE).
SINGLETON: I'll try.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. OK. You've had a chance to look at both of those statements, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, of course, you heard your today and you even - I'm sorry, you've heard the tape today and you even had to read the second one today, correct?
SINGLETON: I don't recall reading -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I mean just -
SINGLETON: Having read the written one prior to today.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you just read it today?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. In nine years or so of law enforcement experience, did you notice any significant inconsistencies in those two statements?
SINGLETON: Significant, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But there were certainly some, weren't there?
SINGLETON: I'm sure there's some.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that expected in your business?
SINGLETON: Yes. Most people don't tell you the same story the same way twice, each time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is that?
SINGLETON: I don't know. I mean just telling a story, you don't tend to get the exact details the same each and every time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So when you looked at those two statements, did you consider them to be significantly different such that you thought he was lying on one or fudging on one?
SINGLETON: Well, I couldn't have made that determination then because I hadn't read the statement back then.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean right now.
SINGLETON: Right now, no, I don't see any significant differences.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So in your experience when taking multiple statements from a witness, sometimes there are differences?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How about witnesses who have gone through traumatic effects, does that affect their ability to recount stories?
SINGLETON: Yes, as well as the same -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is that?
SINGLETON: Event being viewed by two different people, it's sometimes different.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And how does a traumatic event affect their ability to retell stories multiple times?
SINGLETON: I'm not sure how it works, but I just know that it happens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. You were present during Investigator Serino's statement, as well. Well, the statement he gave to Officer Serino, as well, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you notice significant differences in that statement compared to these two?
SINGLETON: Not significant, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But some minor changes?
SINGLETON: Some minor differences, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And do you recall what they were?
SINGLETON: I remember one where he had -- he told me that he walked away. And then, in the interview, when we listened to the tape, he was telling dispatch that he had ran away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Huh.
SINGLETON: Like he was running.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when that he, you're talking about at one point he told you, he being George -
SINGLETON: George.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zimmerman told you that Trayvon Martin walked away.
SINGLETON: Walked between the houses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Walked between the houses, yet a review of let's say Investigator Serino's statement suggests that he told Investigator Serino that Trayvon Martin had run away and that's a difference that you noticed?
SINGLETON: Right. And that's what he had said on the dispatch was that he ran.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And I was going to say, we know from previous evidence that the dispatch non-emergency call suggests that he ran away. And you're aware of that, aren't you?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was a difference that you noted?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Consider that to be significant?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why not?
SINGLETON: Because I just assumed that he had come in and out of view at least twice according to him and whether or not he was running or walking I don't think was significant -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does he -
SINGLETON: Was - mattered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Do you attach -- when you look at different statements and determine whether or not the differences are significant, do you attach to those differences whether or not they help tell a narrative that might be beneficial to the witness or opposed to another witness, is that part of what you look at?
SINGLETON: Yes, part (ph) of what we look at.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So if running or walking isn't significant to the overall narrative, it doesn't seem to catch you as being a significant difference?
SINGLETON: It had been prior to -- the running and walking occurred prior to when we know on the 911 call he was -- had lost sight of him. So it wouldn't have changed anything. So that's why I didn't feel it was that important.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. When he said to you that he had walked through past the t because he wasn't sure the name of the street that he had just left, did that cause you any concern?
SINGLETON: I thought that as a neighborhood watch person he would have known the names of the streets, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. So what -- tell me what - how you absorbed that or what you thought about that. SINGLETON: I was wondering if he was wanting to get out of the car.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. And have you had a chance to go down by the scene to see whether or not there is street signs at that area?
SINGLETON: I know there's no street signs where he said that he parked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Were there any questions that you asked him or any changes in his story along the way that caused you concern?
SINGLETON: Not significantly, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've had those cases, haven't you, where witnesses are telling you a story, you might question them a little bit and then all of a sudden they remember a whole different fact?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Any of that happen here?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he told you that Trayvon Martin got up or said something to him, like words like "you got me," or words to that effect, did that surprise you?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when he said that he had gotten on top of Trayvon Martin -
(END LIVE COVERAGE OF ZIMMERMAN TRIAL)
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to pull away just for a quick second. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching live, continuous coverage here out of Sanford, Florida, of the George Zimmerman trial. We're going to get a quick break in. we're back live in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: All right, let's get you back to live coverage here in Sanford, Florida, just in case - let me just fill you in, in terms of what you've missed in the last two minutes since we've pulled away. This is again on the stand, this is under cross-examination here, you have the lead defense attorney here, Mark O'Mara, questioning this detective who was the one who read George Zimmerman his Miranda rights back in last February of last year on that fatal night and also conducted his police interview. So she's now describing how George Zimmerman described Trayvon Martin that night using the word "suspect." Let's go back.
(BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE OF ZIMMERMAN TRIAL)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly sure where he came from?
SINGLETON: That's correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you consider that to be a significant concern or just him attempting to explain things for you?
SINGLETON: I didn't think that was significant because he said it was dark out there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've seen some of the pictures out there that night, right?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you agree if I used the term pitch black that it was pretty much pitch black out there?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you know that there are no -- first of all, you know there are bushes out there, correct?
SINGLETON: There's bushes I believe on the end of the buildings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to have just a moment, your honor.
SINGLETON: And also I believe there's bushes around some of the people who have air conditioners, they go around, I believe, there's bushes in those areas, as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) have a couple of these marked, your honor. And I - there may not be an objection, so I'll just move them into evidence?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no objection. I believe they're -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there is. For ease of use, I have them right here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want to use them as a composite exhibit or individually?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the clerk like us having them individual. So I enter individual (INAUDIBLE), your honor. Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So if there's no objection, one of them, I don't know which one you're hand to the clerk first, will come in as defense exhibit 21, the second one will come in as defense exhibit 22.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, your honor.
And may I approach the witness, your honor?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, you may. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer Singleton, I'm going to show you pictures, not of the way the scene was that night, but the next day, and ask if you this is what you're familiar with. I'm going to show you both 22 and 21, because they're of a similar area. Is that what you're talking about?
SINGLETON: Yes, how there's bushes. I believe there's probably an air conditioner back here. And this shows the end of the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Show - if you could just identify the number as you show it to the jury.
SINGLETON: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you refer the number?
SINGLETON: There's likely a -- 144 -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's -
SINGLETON: Oh, HH -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's 22.
SINGLETON: Oh, this one, 22. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
SINGLETON: I believe there's probably an air conditioner back here. So there are some bushes there. And this is the end of the building. And there's bushes along the wall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if you would show the jury the similar locations on exhibit 21?
SINGLETON: Here and here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And again, also further down in front of each unit, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes. Each unit has bushes around their air conditioners from what I can tell in that picture.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. Of course none of those bushes have any kind of lights in them from your view of the nighttime photographs, do they?
SINGLETON: No, there's no lights in the bushes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. There was not a concern of yours that Mr. Zimmerman first said he may have come out of bushes and then said not exactly sure where he came from?
SINGLETON: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did that seem to be an event that - or a difference that could cause you any concern whatsoever?
SINGLETON: No. I was just looking at the bushes while we were out there trying to figure out, this kid's pretty tall, like what bushes, if he did come out of bushes, would he most likely be coming from.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Would you agree with the pictures that we saw of that night that he could easily have simply just come out of the darkness?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection, speculation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing further then, your honor. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much. Any redirect?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer Singleton, wouldn't you agree that what's significant or what's not significant is up to the jury?
SINGLETON: Sure.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're just an objective state of mind, right? In terms of here you have an opinion based on what he asked you (INAUDIBLE)?
SINGLETON: Yes, he asked me for my opinion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. And wouldn't you agree with us, what's important is what the jury believes, correct?
SINGLETON: It's important what they believe, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Now isn't it true, ma'am, when Mr. O'Mara kept asking you questions that you had not been out to the scene at that time -
SINGLETON: I was -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you spoke to the defendant?
SINGLETON: I had never gone to the scene that night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And isn't it also true that the defendant is telling you that he thought the person you now know, the 17-year-old boy, was alive, correct?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I object, your honor, leading.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sustained.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendant told you, I believe you told Mr. O'Mara that he said he was surprised to learn that Trayvon Martin was alive?
SINGLETON: He didn't say that. One -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did he react when you told him he was dead?
SINGLETON: He said, he's dead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that left you the impression that he thought he was alive?
SINGLETON: That was my impression that I thought he was - that I believed that he thought that he was alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Mr. Zimmerman, the defendant, in his statements to you, told you that he was scared of the defendant, of Mr. Zimmerman -- I'm sorry, of Trayvon Martin?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me object, your honor, that's a mischaracterization of the evidence and the testimony to date (ph). (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll try to rephrase it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his statements to you, Mr. Zimmerman told you that - he claims that the defendant was -- he was being bashed, his head was being bashed into the concrete, correct?
SINGLETON: Slammed into the concrete.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slammed. And he had to shoot the person you now know as Trayvon Martin, correct?
SINGLETON: That's what he said he did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what he said he did. You weren't there.
SINGLETON: I wasn't there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't know whether that's true or not?
SINGLETON: No, I don't know whether that's true or not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. But he told you -- at some point you told him that the victim was actually dead, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how did he react?
SINGLETON: Shocked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
BALDWIN: Again, quick break. We'll take you back in Sanford, Florida, in just a second.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: All right, once again, the state, Bernie de la Rionda is redirecting this witness, this Detective Singleton, specifically talking now about the usage of the word "suspect." Zimmerman using the word suspect to describe Trayvon Martin. Let's go back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like all the questions that Mr. O'Mara asked you about significance and all that, that would be you speculating, correct?
SINGLETON: Which question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the questions he asked you about whether you knew that Mr. O'Mara - I'm sorry, Mr. Zimmerman, the defendant, had ill will, hatred or angry at Trayvon Martin. You don't - were you -- you aren't able to get into Mr. Zimmerman's mind at the time he got - did the shooting, were you?
SINGLETON: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You weren't able to get into his mind as to why he followed this person, were you?
SINGLETON: Only what he told me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you didn't know what was in his heart or his mind at the time that he sought ought or, to use his words, "followed" the 17-year-old unarmed boy?
SINGLETON: I only knew what he told me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were also asked about whether there was an eyewitness or not there. You hadn't interviewed anybody up to the point you interviewed the defendant, had you?
SINGLETON: No, I didn't speak to anybody prior to speaking with Zimmerman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I can have (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. O'Mara asked you about the screaming. Remember Mr. O'Mara asking you questions about recording (ph) about screaming?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Mr. Zimmerman, the defendant, told you he -- that he saw people out there, correct?
SINGLETON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he had to have known that if somebody was screaming, whether it was him or somebody else, somebody would have heard it?
SINGLETON: Someone potentially heard it because they came out and they said he seen them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
SINGLETON: Or he said he seen at least one person.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. He - he, the defendant, is just claiming that it was him. You can't say whether it was him or not, can you?
SINGLETON: That's -- I'm sorry, I don't understand the question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't say that it was Mr. Zimmerman, the defendant, who was screaming for help.
SINGLETON: I can't say that, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, ma'am.
(INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just so it was clear. (INAUDIBLE) talk about whether or not Mr. Zimmerman had ill will, hatred, spite -
BALDWIN: All right, let's take another quick break. You're watching CNN live, continuous coverage of the George Zimmerman trial as he is now - he is facing second-degree murder here. Back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
