CNN news 2013-07-01 加文本

cnn news 2013-07-01

The trial seems to have one witness whobecomes something of a sensation. And in this trial, as millions have now seen,that witness is Trayvon Martin's friend Rachel Jeantel. She's been, like thecase itself, polarizing. Today she seemed to be at times less combative, notalways, though, as you'll see in this exchange with the defense attorney DonWest which starts with yes, sir, but builds to something a lot stronger. Take alook.

He told me the dude was close to him.

Right, at that point he decided to approach this man and say, why are youfollowing me?

Yes, sir.

And he could have just run home if he wasn't there.

He was already by his house. He told me.

Of course, you don't know if he was telling you the truth or not.

Why he need to lie about that, sir?

Maybe if he decided to assault George Zimmerman, he didn't want you to knowabout it.

That's real retarded(智力迟钝的), sir.

I'm sorry?

That's real retarded to do that, sir. And you don't know the person.

Why?

Trayvon did not know him.

Rachel Jeantel today, her second day in the spotlight. Her performance on thestand more polished than yesterday, still raising eyebrows and as 360's RandiKaye reports, none of that attention is especially welcome.

Rachel Jeantel never wanted any of this. No media glare, no attention, and notough questions about her phone call with Trayvon Martin moments before he wasshot. That may be why she lied about her age.

Did you say that you were 16 so that you could try to maintain more privacy?

Yes.

So you wanted to make yourself seem like a minor, so that maybe there wouldn'tbe as much public disclosure as if you said your true age of 18?

Yes.

Today Rachel Jeantel is 19, and her life story from what we can piece togetheris more exposed than she had ever dreamed.

She attended Miami Norland Senior High School and according to her Facebookpage took classes in criminal justice at Miami University, though the schooltells us they have no record of her. She's from North Miami where she says sheand Trayvon Martin had met in elementary school.

Why do we care so much who this woman is? Because her testimony about whatTrayvon told her the night he died could make or break the case. If what shesays is true, Trayvon Martin was scared and trying to get away from a manpursuing him, a man who later turned out to be George Zimmerman. But Jeantelmay have some credibility issues. She's already been caught lying about her ageand about her reason for not attending Trayvon's funeral. And then there's hervanishing postings on her Twitter page.

According to the Smoking Gun, tweets referring to Trayvon and the case wereremoved just hours before her testimony. Like this one from June 21st, "16months later, wow, I need a drink." Jeantel had also tweeted about having,quote, "jackass lawyers on my ass."

It's unclear which lawyers she may have been referring to but she certainly hasheld her own with Zimmerman's attorneys in court. She took some heat from thedefense for this audio interview she gave the Martin family attorney early onin the investigation.