Zimmerman-Martin: Zimmerman's call to police

[NoName]

In my opinion, Zimmerman's guilt or innocence will turn on what we can learn about the last 60 seconds or so, during the final confrontation. The events of, say, five minutes before, while they can shed light on the protagonists' actions later on, are of secondary importance (though still important). I think many others assign a greater importance to what happened several minutes earlier than I do, however.

For example, the charging affidavit is somewhat vague on what happened in the last minute ("a struggle ensued...") but forms clearer conclusions about the earlier portion ("Martin attempted to run home ... Zimmerman disregarded the police dispatcher and continued to follow Martin who was trying to return to his home"), with the conclusions as a whole taken to support a murder charge.

Likewise, the Martins' lawyer Benjamin Crump agrees that the course of the final struggle is not clear but that the sequence of events that happened earlier establishes Zimmerman's guilt ("Crump said it was not clear that Martin threw the first punch but, argued that even if he did, Zimmerman’s actions launched the entire sequence of events. 'Trayvon Martin had every right to stand his ground,' Crump said.")

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/04/trayvon-martin-and-the-problematic-timeline.html
http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/02/911-call-shows-zimmerman-stopped-following-martin-after-dispatchers-request-corroborates-story/
At 7:09:34 Zimmerman connected to a police operator (I have seen this described variously as a call to a nonemergency line, a call to 911, and a call to a nonemergency line that rolled over to 911 because no nonemergency operators were on duty.) He was on the phone for 4:07, until 7:13:41. Martin received a call from his friend at 7:12 (presumably meaning some time between 7:12:00 and 7:12:59). The first 911 call is logged at 7:16:11 and the gunshot is heard at 7:16:56.

The middle of the call is the most action-packed. One writer summarizes it as follows (minutes and seconds from 7:09:34):

At 2:07, Zimmerman tells the dispatcher, “He’s running.”

At 2:09, you can hear a car door open and an alarm begins that is undoubtedly the “door open, keys in ignition” warning on Zimmerman’s truck.

At 2:13, you can clearly hear the car door slamming shut, and the alarm stops.

At 2:17, Zimmerman’s voice wobbles and he starts breathing heavily into the phone, indicating that he has started running.

At 2:22, without any prompting other than the aforementioned noises and breathing, the dispatcher asks “Are you following him?” to which Zimmerman responds, “Yeah.”
At 2:26, the dispatcher says, “Okay, we don’t need you to do that,” to which Zimmerman responds, “Okay.”
Zimmerman proceeds to give the dispatcher his name. Then he says, “He ran.”
Zimmerman can still be heard breathing into the phone until about 2:39, at which point the heavy breathing stops entirely, a mere 13 seconds after the dispatcher asked him to stop following. A very calm and collected Zimmerman then proceeds to give the dispatcher his own information, directions and a description of his location for another 1 minute and 33 seconds.

Naturally, people interested in the case should listen to the call for themselves. (It is no longer on the Sanford municipal site but can be found elsewhere. A transcript is here.)

The NYT has a survey article here with an interactive feature giving an overview of the area. A Google Maps link showing distances can be found here.

When Zimmerman, having parked, gives his location, he says that he is parked at a "cutout". Unless he is making this up, this presumably would be the entrance to the walkway at the bend of Twin Trees Lane, which would be a logical place for Martin to enter; it leads through a grassy area, east to the walkway that then provides access to the back of the condos on Twin Trees and Retreat View. Putting the two sources together, it looks like about 70 yards from the cutout to the eventual shooting site, and another 100 yards or so to the entrance to the condo, though I have seen other distances cited in other sources.

Speculation (or confident pronouncement from those who feel comfortable doing so) is invited as to where Zimmerman and Martin were located at, say, the 2:07 point in the call (where Zimmerman claims Martin is running), as well as the 4:07 endpoint of the call.

[Zakk Wylde]

Jury selection will be the most interesting part of this trial. Or a very interesting part of it anyway.

[Uncle Ted]

Surprised no one has started a thread about this case until now.

[NoName]

I'm hoping that people can have a focused discussion on this particular, important aspect of the case without being sidetracked, as has happened on the main thread. I have had my hopes frustrated before though.

[Zakk Wylde]

Originally Posted by NoName

I'm hoping that people can have a focused discussion on this particular, important aspect of the case without being sidetracked, as has happened on the main thread. I have had my hopes frustrated before though.

It's quite possible that the evidence may not support a conviction. And it's quite possible the jury may vote to convict anyway.

Any discussion of a change of venue yet? Seems like it could be justified.

[Uncle Ted]

Originally Posted by NoName

I'm hoping that people can have a focused discussion

What people...people from the AO? We'll be talking about abortion in this thread by page 3

[win diesel]

We should just make this the main thread...thread title of other one is a lie...more like "Killed while viciously attacking someone...or banging someone's head into concrete can put them in a coma or kill them"

[hellomath]

Looked like Zimmerman was asking for trouble if he did not follow the 911 operator's instruction.

He was in a car. He could just drive away if he chose to. Self-defense, really?

[win diesel]

Originally Posted by hellomath

Self-defense, really?

yep

[Piranha]

Originally Posted by NoName

The events of, say, five minutes before, while they can shed light on the protagonists' actions later on, are of secondary importance (though still important).

Who is the protagonist?