'He said a creepy-a** cracker was watching him': Trayvon's girlfriend takes the stand and recounts last phone call in moments before he was shot by Zimmerman
- Rachel Jeantel said she told Trayvon to run after he said: 'The n**** is still behind me'
- She said she heard Trayvon ask the man 'Why are you following me?' and that he said, 'What are you doing around here?'
- Defense expected to call her credibility into account
- Admitted she lied about being sick on day of funeral
- 'I felt guilty...I was the last person that talked to their son', she said
- Earlier a neighbor said she heard a boy's voice cry for help before a gun shot rang out
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Trayvon Martin's girlfriend - the state's star witness - testified today about the last phone call he made before he was shot dead in which he described George Zimmerman following him.
Rachel Jeantel, 19, told the court she asked the teen what the man looked like and he said he looked creepy, 'a creepy-a** cracker'.
She said Trayvon told her he was going to go home but the man was still following him, saying 'Oh sh**, the n**** is still behind me'.
'I just told him to run,' Rachel told the court, adding that she heard a 'hard-breathing man' in the background.
The pair then got cut off and when she called him back he told her he was back at his father's fiancee's house and he thought he had lost the man.
Girlfriend: The government's star witness in the George Zimmerman prosecution is 19-year-old Miami woman Rachel Jeantel
Testimony: Rachel said Trayvon told her he was going to try to lose the man and go home, but Zimmerman kept following him
When asked about why she lied about not going to the funeral, she said: 'I felt guilty...I was the last person that talked to their son', before breaking down in tears
Pause: Jeantel also said the screaming voice on 911 calls, which she heard through media outlets after her friend's death, 'sounded like Trayvon'
Manicure: Rachel tweeted a picture of her 'court nails' on Sunday and later deleted it, though it is still on her Facebook
Day three: George Zimmerman enters the courtroom for the third day of his trial in Seminole circuit court on June 26
'It was about to rain when he was going to 7-Eleven', said Jeantel. They talked about the All-Star game which Trayvon left at halftime to go to the store.
It was raining, so Trayvon took a shortcut on his way back home, she said. That's when he revealed 'a man was watching him'.
Jeantel said she told Trayvon she was worried the man was a rapist. Trayvon said to 'stop playing with him like that'.
She then told the jury - made up of five white women and one Hispanic - she heard Trayvon ask the man, 'Why are you following me?' and that he said, 'What are you doing around here?'
She then said she heard Trayvon’s phone headset fall and him saying: 'Get off!'
When asked about why she lied about not going to the funeral, she said: 'I felt guilty...I was the last person that talked to their son', before breaking down in tears.
Jeantel also said the screaming voice on 911 calls, which she heard through media outlets after her friend's death, 'sounded like Trayvon'.
After Martin's death, Jeantel said she found out about the incident from a friend's text message and decided not to go to his wake because she didn't want to see his body.
At times during her testimony she dabbed away tears, as did the father of Trayvon Martin.
The defense is expected to call her credibility into account after she tweeted about the case and discussed 'getting high' and 'driving drunk'
He would come to her neighborhood to ride bikes and play games, she said. They met in second grade but lost touch until 2006. She denied being his girlfriend as she has frequently been described as up to this point.
Earlier today a neighbor of Zimmerman cried as she testified about hearing a boy's cry for help shortly before she heard a gun go off.
But Jayne Surdyka also testified on the third day of testimony in Zimmerman's murder trial that she heard multiple gunshots, 'pop, pop, pop'.
Only one shot was fired in the fatal encounter between Zimmerman and 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
'I truly believe the second yell for help was a yelp,' said Surdyka, who later dabbed away tears as prosecutors played her frantic 911 call. 'It was excruciating. I really felt it was a boy's voice.'
Hard to hear: Trayvon Martin's parents listen as Rachel Jeantel talks about the last phone call Trayvon made before he was shot dead
Witness Jane Surdyka dabbed away tears as prosecutors played her frantic 911 call: 'It was excruciating. I really felt it was a boy's voice'
Opposing teams: Assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda, left, and defense attorney Mark O'Mara, right, speak during a recess in George Zimmerman's trial
Diagram: Witness Jane Surdyka, left, points to a map of The Retreat at Twin Lakes being held by Assistant state attorney Bernie de la Rionda
Surdyka told the court that before the shooting, she heard an aggressive voice and a softer voice exchanging words for several minutes.
'It was someone being very aggressive and angry at someone,' she said.
During the struggle, she said, she saw a person in dark clothes on top of the other person. Martin was wearing a dark sweatshirt and Zimmerman wore red clothing.
Surdyka said she saw the person who was on top get off the body after the shot was fired.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Don West tried to show there was a lapse in what Surdyka saw.
Defense attorneys contend Martin was on top of Zimmerman during the struggle, but after the neighborhood watch volunteer fired a shot, Zimmerman got on top of Martin.
West also challenged Surdyka about her belief that the cry for help was a boy's voice, saying she was making an assumption about whose voice it was.
Another neighbor, Jeannee Manalo, testified after Surdyka that she believed Zimmerman was on top of Martin. Manalo also described hearing howling, but she couldn't tell who it was coming from.
Neighbor: Witness Jeannee Manalo testified that she believed Zimmerman was on top of Martin and also described hearing howling, but she couldn't tell who it was coming from
Accused: Zimmerman, 29, could get life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder for gunning down Martin as the young man walked from a convenience store
Cross examination: Defense attorney Don West questions witness Jane Surdyka during George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial
George Zimmerman speaks with attorney Lorna Truett: He has claimed self-defense, saying he opened fire after the teenager jumped him and began slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk
Under cross-examination, defense attorney Mark O'Mara asked why she had never mentioned her belief that Zimmerman was on top in previous police interviews.
He made her read back a transcript of an interview in which she described only seeing shadows.
Other neighbors also have described hearing cries for help that were captured on their calls to 911.
Martin's parents have said they came from their son, while Zimmerman's father has said he believes the cries belong to his son.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys believe they could show whether Zimmerman or Martin was the aggressor in the encounter at the Retreat at Twin Lakes townhome complex on February 26, 2012.
Defense attorneys successfully argued against allowing prosecution experts who claimed the cries belonged to Martin.
Also today, Judge Debra Nelson announced that an alternate juror — a young, Hispanic man — had been dismissed for reasons unrelated to the case.
The juror, a maintenance technician, said during jury selection that he also competed in arm wrestling competitions and could do a one-armed pull-up.
His dismissal leaves only a middle-aged white man on the jury panel along with eight women. He is currently an alternate
Graphic: The State of Florida shows photos of Trayvon Martin's body from the night of the shooting as evidence, the sight of which caused his parents to leave the court
Exhibit 15: Number signs mark pieces of evidence. Trayvon's body can be seen in the background
Initial view: Sgt Raimondo described in detail how he found Trayvon's body lying face down on the grass when he arrived at the crime scene five minutes after the 911 call was made
Candy: Diana Smith, crime scene technician for the Sanford Police Department, shows a bag of Skittles, which was collected as evidence, to the jury during Zimmerman's trial today
The judge also ruled this morning that she would allow at trial five police dispatch calls Zimmerman made in the months before his encounter with Martin.
Prosecutors want to use the calls to bolster their argument that Zimmerman was increasingly frustrated with repeated burglaries and had reached a breaking point the night he shot the unarmed teenager.
Prosecutors played the calls for the judge Tuesday with the jurors out of the courtroom.
The recordings show Zimmerman's 'ill will', prosecutor Richard Mantei said.
'It shows the context in which the defendant sought out his encounter with Trayvon Martin,' he said.Zimmerman, whose father is white and whose mother is Hispanic, has denied the confrontation with the black teenager had anything to do with race, as Martin's family and its supporters have charged.
There were emotional scenes in the Sanford courtroom yesterday as jurors were shown graphic pictures of Trayvon's body - including close-ups of the gunshot wound - after he was killed.
His parents Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton left the room shortly after the harrowing images were projected onto a large screen.
Sanford Sgt Anthony Raimondo was called to the stand yesterday afternoon - the same sergeant who was described in opening statements as the one who tried to 'breathe life' into Trayvon.
Under cross examination he explained what he found after arriving on the crime scene 'within five minutes' of when the 911 call was made.
He described in detail how he found Trayvon's body lying face down on the grass with his hands underneath him.
He checked for a pulse twice and turned him over to perform CPR. As he tried to revive the teen, he told the court he could hear bubbling sounds coming out of Trayvon's chest as he attempted to resuscitate him.
He asked people who had come from their homes after the shooting for Saran wrap and Vaseline to plug the wound. One of the bystanders brought him a plastic bag.
Later, jurors were shown pictures of the Arizona fruit juice can and pack of skittles the 17-year-old had just bought in the 7/11.
Crime scene technician Diana Smith presented several pieces of evidence to the court room as well as describing the area where she put yellow markers down.
Prosecutor John Guy asks Smith to point out and describe each item at the scene - which included a flashlight, cell phone and plastic bag as well as the skittles and juice can.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2349009/George-Zimmerman-trial-Trayvon-Martins-girlfriend-takes-stand-recounts-phone-call.html#ixzz2XMtjmRI6
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Star witness in George Zimmerman trial tweeted about court case, getting high, drink driving and showed off her 'court nails'
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The credibility of the state's star witness is expected to be called into question following a number of tweets she posted in which she talked about the death of Trayvon Martin, getting high, drink driving and her 'court nails'.
Rachel Jeantel took to the stand today at the George Zimmerman trial in Florida to testify about the phone conversation she had with her Trayvon moments before he was shot dead.
She denied the pair were boyfriend and girlfriend as they were previously described. Defense attorney Don West used the cross-examination to call her out on lies she had told before.
The 19-year-old Miami woman used her Twitter account to occasionally comment on the case saying things like, '16 months later, wowww I need a drink' and tweeted a picture of her 'court nails'.
The posts have since been deleted but the picture remained on her Facebook page.
Social media: The 19-year-old Miami woman used her Twitter account to occasionally comment on the case saying things like, '16 months later, wowww I need a drink'
Peach polish: She posted a picture on Facebook of her 'court nails' on Sunday as she seemed to prepare for her testimony
Postings: The teen is one of the prosecution's most important witnesses but they have already experienced problems with her prior evidence
According to the Smoking Gun, one deleted tweet linked to a sexually suggestive series of photos, while another included a link to a photo of liquor bottles with the caption: 'Wat [sic] will happen I mix everything uhmmmm.'
She cried in court today as she recounted the last conversation she had with Trayvon.
The 19-year-old told the court she asked the teen what the man looked like and he said he looked creepy, 'a creepy a** cracker'.
She said Trayvon told her he was going to go home but the man was still following him, saying 'Oh sh**, the n**** is still behind me'.
'I just told him to run,' Rachel told the court, adding that her friend was breathing heavily.
The pair then got cut off and when she called him back he told her he was back at his father's fiancee's house and he thought he had lost the man.
The teen is one of the prosecution's most important witnesses but they have already experienced problems with her prior evidence.
Alcohol: Her credibility may be called into question following a number of tweets she posted in which she talked about the death of Trayvon Martin, getting high, drink driving and her 'court nails'
Testimony: Rachel said Trayvon told her he was going to try to lose the man and go home, but Zimmerman kept following him
Earlier this year, government lawyers were forced acknowledge she lied under oath when she claimed the reason she did not attend Martin’s funeral was due to being sick in hospital.
She admitted today she did not want to go because she didn't want to see his parents. 'I felt guilty...I was the last person that talked to their son', she said.
Friend: Rachel was the last person to talk to Trayvon Martin
When this lie was disclosed in an earlier court hearing back in March, she tweeted a number of things apparently related to the discovery.
'Jus got home n hear wat was going and I’m angry', she wrote, and 'remember who cause the funeral to happen keep it 100% Mr. a** hoe...Damn they p*ssed me off… and I’m sick too "HELL NAW".'
On February 26, the one-year anniversary of Trayvon's death, she tweeted '#RIP Tray', followed by 'Omg people calling n praying n sh*t lol I need a drink smoke and a pray my head killing me right now cannot wait when this day end'.
Two days earlier, she referred to getting high, drinking, smoking and drink driving: 'Lol we going to hell for smoke on Sunday I need some more drink,' one tweet said, then: 'I hope I dont hit no one tonight lord plz watch my driving'.
The picture of her 'court nails' was posted on Sunday and other tweets hinted towards preparations she was making for her appearance.
On June 16, a list of seven items she posted included the notations '3.get ready for count [sic]', '4.deal with the bull come with it', '5.try to have a natural life' and '7. I’m going need a lot of drinks for dis summer oh lord',
On her Facebook page, Jeantel is stated as having attended Miami Norland Senior High School and has 'studied criminal justice at Miami University'.
For her job she wrote: 'My mama n daddy do all the work I just spend it.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2349081/Rachel-Jenteal-Teenage-star-witness-George-Zimmerman-tweeted-case-getting-high-showed-court-nails.html#ixzz2XNhF60xT
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