NFL Star May Be Tied To Murder Probe
WHITFIELD: Two days before opening statements in George Zimmerman's murder trial, and a ruling today in the hearing concerning the 911 recording of a scream on the night of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Within the last hour and a half we received the judge's ruling on a crucial piece of evidence. Judge Debra Nelson will not allow prosecutors to admit expert testimony on the voice analysis. It's this moment, this cry for help that's at issue. Listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: Does he look hurt to you?</s>UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I can't see him. I don't want to go out there. I don't know what's going on. They're sending.</s>UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: So you think he is yelling help?</s>UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR: All right -- what is your --</s>WHITFIELD: Let's bring in Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor joining us from Cleveland. Good to see you.</s>AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: And Richard Herman, a criminal defense attorney and law professor joining us from New York for the first time in I don't know how many months. You're back home.</s>RICHARD HERMAN, CNN CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Back home, Fred.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, good to see both of you. So Richard, you know, the judge rules, quote, and I have the ruling right here saying that, "There were also some environmental variables that hinder the ability of the witnesses to effectively analyze the recordings. But the recording of the 911 call can still be played for the court, leaving this for the jury's interpretation. Is that what's going on here?</s>HERMAN: That's exactly what's going on. The judge saying you can play the recording. You can bring in witnesses who apparently will claim they know the voice of Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman and they can tell the jury they believe it's his voice, but they cannot bring in experts to testify to this jury that based on scientific principles, they have made a determination that the voice on the tape is either Trayvon Martin or Zimmerman, devastating blow to the prosecution's case.</s>WHITFIELD: Avery, to underscore that, the judge in this order saying this order does not prevent the parties from playing the tapes at trial or calling witnesses familiar with the voice of the defendant or Martin to testify regarding the identity of the person or persons making the screams. So that tells you that the prosecution or the defense may call who to testify once this 911 call is played?</s>FRIEDMAN: Remember, we have eight witnesses who have been already identified as witnesses for the trial. Now based on this -- what I think is a very courageous and intelligent ruling by Judge Nelson. We're going to have additional witness whose will say I recognize the voice. Whether or not a jury accepts it, rejects it, that will be up to them. But the decision is important because so-called Dalberg decision, that is, expert testimony. She concludes that the forensic audio science is not developed enough, it's not competent. It's a correct ruling. So we'll see additional witnesses to the ones that are already identified on who that voice is the jury will make the decision.</s>WHITFIELD: Richard says it's a devastating blow to the prosecution. In your view, is it a blow to the prosecution?</s>FRIEDMAN: A law enforcement perspective, yes. This would have really helped immensely, in a case that's going to be very difficult to prosecute. They have to show beyond a reasonable doubt second degree murder, Fredricka. So losing that is an extraordinary loss for the prosecution.</s>HERMAN: The most critical person to testify who the scream was will be Zimmerman himself because he must testify in this self-defense case, Fred. So let's see who he says the scream is.</s>WHITFIELD: And then the fact that we've got a jury, all women jury, that's significant, too. It will be interesting to see how all these things come together.</s>HERMAN: Not one black person on the jury, Fred, not one.</s>FRIEDMAN: And the fact that it's all female, Fredricka, everybody is saying it's of different value. I think it's the individuals who will count.</s>WHITFIELD: Except I think one of the jurors is a black Hispanic, Richard.</s>HERMAN: OK. They all have familiarity with guns.</s>WHITFIELD: We're going to talk about another case. I want to show you this piece from Alina Cho. We're talking about another very important case involving New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez. Police are investigating the murder of his friend. The body was found just about a mile away from his home. Here now is Alina Cho.</s>ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Aaron Hernandez, August 2012, in the glow of signing a 5-year contract extension with the New England Patriots worth as much as $40 million, nearly a half million per game.</s>AARON HERNANDEZ, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: All I can do is play my heart out for them, make the right decisions and live like a Patriot.</s>CHO: That was ten months ago. This is now. The 23-year-old Patriots tight end is trailed by the media wherever he goes, leaving his lawyer's office on Friday, coming home. An O.J. Simpson like helicopters chase on Thursday, followed by this exchange at the gas station.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us anything you want to say? Can you tell us anything that happened on Monday night?</s>CHO: Investigators are looking for clues in the mysterious death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, whose body was found in the woods less than a mile from Hernandez's home about an hour outside Boston. Police are not calling Hernandez a suspect, but investigators have searched his home. Lloyd's sister confirms the two were friends and went to a Boston nightclub together Friday night. Olivia Thibou says there's an even deeper connection. Lloyd's girlfriend and Hernandez's fiancee are sisters.</s>OLIVIA THIBOU, VICTIM'S SISTER: I like to know why. You know, he is a very great guy. What could have he possibly done to anger anybody.</s>CHO: Hernandez's attorney says neither he nor his client will have any comment at this time.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, again, Aaron Hernandez has not been charged. He has not been named a suspect and he isn't talking, but there are still a lot of questions in this case. We learned yesterday that three search warrants have been issued, but the warrants were not made public so we don't know if they involve Hernandez's home or property or what. So Avery, where is this going in your view? What sort of pieces are investigators trying to put together so that they can figure out who is responsible for the death of this man?</s>FRIEDMAN: Well, there's an enormous amount of smoke here, Fredicka, enormous. The reason I think it's captured media attention is that -- look at that video. You've got a white 4 x 4 with a football player being followed by helicopters. They've gotten into the house and they're looking at communications on hard drives, talking to other witnesses. From a law enforcement perspective, we're right at the beginning of looking into this, seeing where this is going. Right now not enough evidence to charge. I will tell you that within this coming week we'll see some action one way or the other.</s>WHITFIELD: Richard, another legal matter that Hernandez may be involved in and this is connected to a man in Miami. What gives here?</s>HERMAN: The allegation that he beat the crap out of someone down there. Look, they're going to bring charges with that. Fred, in the instant case, they want to know about Hernandez's house because there's a determination made that the surveillance system was intentionally destroyed. In addition to that, his cell phone was destroyed, and in addition to that, of course, he's not talking, which he should not be talking to anybody. But these coincidences -- in addition to that, they brought in a cleaning crew to scrub down his house. This is kind of interesting, and I think law enforcement want to know why all this took place right after his friend was murdered.</s>WHITFIELD: All right, Richard, Avery, very complicated case. He has not been charged, not even named a suspect, but his name and his image is swirling around this investigation. We'll see you again in about 20 minutes -- let's make it 15, 15 minutes to talk about a shocking revelation from the Michael Jackson trial. We knew he had sleep trouble, but wait until you hear the details coming out of that courtroom. Also up next, a story that has captured so many hearts. My goodness, this 3-year-old boy hearing his father's voice for the first time, his reaction so touching, it just puts you right into -- we'll have much more on what the father said.