Hear No Evil

Judge: No Audio Experts in Zimmerman Trial

For fringe approach to audio analysis.

Has another blow been struck to pseudoscience, or could it be something murkier? On Saturday, the judge of George Zimmerman’s trial barred the state’s two audio experts from testifying. The experts, who testified in pre-trial hearings on June 7, both claimed that screams heard on a 911 call after teenager Trayvon Martin was shot could not have belonged to Zimmerman and therefore must have been Martin’s. But other witnesses claimed that due to the poor quality of the recording, the audio was impossible to properly analyze. The judge concluded that the methods used by the experts are not widely accepted in the field of audio analysis, although the state can still call non-expert witnesses.