Recently, CNN enhanced audio of George Zimmerman — the man who shot Trayvon Martin — to try to determine if he did, in fact, use a racial slur while calling police on the night of the shooting. Back then, it sounded like Zimmerman might have used the phrase “fu**ing coons,” and his critics have cited it as evidence of a racially-motivated attack. But now CNN has enhanced the audio again, and the reporter is casting doubts that the term was used.
“It certainly sounds like that word to me,” Gary Tuckman said when the audio was first enhanced. But after the latest enhancement, he’s not so sure:
“Now it does sound less like that racial slur. … From listening in this room, and this is a state-of-the-art room, it doesn’t sound like that slur anymore. It sounds like … we’re hearing the swear word at first and then the word ‘cold.’ And the reason some say that would be relevant, is because it was unseasonably cold in Florida that night and raining.”
The audio expert agreed it sounded like “cold,” and said the new method gets rid of a lot more background noise but doesn’t change the voice or words.
Watch the segment below, which includes the initial audio enhancement and the new one:
Update: An additional CNN reporter has even more analysis: