we'll play for you uncensored in a moment. first, the breaking news which happened just moments ago in sanford, florida, where david mattingly joins us live. david, sanford city commissioners passed a no-confidence motion in the local police chief. what exactly does that mean? does it mean anything? >> reporter: anderson, this was a no confidence vote. they voted 3-2 in no confidence in the city's police chief bill lee. this is really a nonbinding vote, but it demonstrates to the police chief that he no longer has the support of the city commission here. and what it is saying is that they're now going to be looking into more details. they're not going to make a decision right away. it doesn't mean that the chief is fired. but they are going to be looking into deeply in his handling of this killing of trayvon martin. and the chief has only been in office less than a year now. he does not have the support right now of the current mayor of the city, jeff triplette. i watched the mayor earlier today as he was sitting side by side with leaders of the naacp as people who live here were coming forward telling stories about how for years that they have had problems with the police force here. he said at that time that there's going to be a lot of work to do to correct some of these problems and tonight might have been the first step that he was talking about. anderson? >> david, let me ask you about the investigation, because are the local police there and they've been criticized by the family of trayvon martin, obviously the attorney for that family, but are the local police there still investigating this or because the fbi and justice department are investigating, because there's going to be a grand jury, have they taken over the investigation? do we know? >> reporter: the investigation itself is relatively over in terms of what the police are doing. but it's still open in case something else comes up or someone else comes forward to give them more information. they are still leaving it open in that respect. but they have turned everything over that they have to the state's attorney. that state's attorney is looking at it, and they're going to be calling a grand jury in april to look over the evidence they have to decide if they're going to come out with any charges with anyone involved in this case. >> all right, david mattingly, appreciate the breaking news update. thank you. pressure is building on the local police there for days. the question, as david mentioned, center on how fully did police in sanford, florida, investigate george zimmerman and his claim of self-defense in accordance with florida's deadly force law or did they just take his word on it? his family says the cops are covering up, the family -- >> they're actually trying to sweep our son's death under the rug. trayvon was a person. you know, he wasn't just a statistic. he was loved by his family. he was loved by his friends. >> well, they, the family, the protesters tonight, the naacp and others believe the police took george zimmerman's claim at face value and left it at that. now recall that sanford police chief bill lee said before florida and the justice department launched their own investigations, quote, we don't have anything to dispute his claim of self-defense. why wasn't zimmerman tested for drugs or alcohol whereas the dead teenager, trayvon martin, was tested? what, if anything, did police know about george zimmerman's long record of phoning nuisances or suspicious people or his arrest with scuffle with an undercover police officer? he entered a pretrial diversion program allowing him to keep his record clean and that might have been missed. so what about zimmerman's call to 911? now critics say his own words should have been evidence enough to form probable cause that he was pursuing trayvon martin and not acting in self-defense. >> are you following him? >> yeah. >> okay, we don't need you to do that. >> okay. >> the final question centers on another phone call, one that was taking place literally at the same time between trayvon and his girlfriend. what, if anything, did police know about that? did they even check trayvon's phone records or contact his girlfriend? the martin family attorney says they haven't spoke with her and abc is reporting that she gave crumb a sworn affidavit. she says this about her final conversation with treyvon. i quote, "he said this man was watching him so he put his hoody on, said he lost the man. she went on to say " i asked trayvon to run and he said he was going to walk fast. i told him to run but he said he was not going to run. she said the man caught up to trayvon. he said what you are following me for? the man said what are you doing here? next thing i hear is somebody pushing and somebody pushed trayvon because the headset just fell. what, if anything, did police know about that account which in addition to the 911 call seem to cast doubt on george zimmerman's claim of self-defense. that is one of the many questions these marchers tonight have that trayvon martin's family have and have had for weeks. you saw a moment ago trayvon's parents are here in new york tonight. i spoke with them on my day time syndicated program "anderson" which the interview tomorrow and two neighbors who is there and who witnesses who were there when trayvon was shot. the eyewitnesses say that some of them believe it was your son calling out for help. no one directly saw him doing it or could say 100% for sure. you heard the 911 call where you hear somebody calling out help. do you believe that is your son's voice? >> yes, i do. i believe that is trayvon martin. that is my baby's voice. every mother knows their child. and that's his voice. >> and the fact that -- if that's true and he called out for help, what does that tell you? >> he was afraid for his life. he saw his death coming. he saw his death coming. the screams got more franticker and at that second that we heard the shot, the screams just completely stopped. he saw his death. he was pleading for his life. >> so you're saying if it was zimmerman screaming for help that might have continued after the shot. but the fact that after the shot there was no more screaming for help. >> no more scream whatsoever. went completely silent. >> when you both went outside, you saw george zimmerman where and where was trayvon martin? >> she was out the door first. when i came out the door, i saw him basically straddling him. he had, you know, feet on either side of his body. and his hands at the time i didn't know was on his back. and -- >> trayvon was face down? >> trayvon was face down. once he got off the body, we could see that his face was down in the grass. so at the time that he was holding his back, i didn't know if he was trying to help him, hold the wound or -- someone asked him several times, three times, what's going on? is everything okay? and each time he looked back, but he didn't say anything until the third time he just said just call the police. >> we'll have that complete interview on my daytime show tomorrow. last week george zimmerman's father told "the orlando sentinel" that the family is receiving death threats. his son pursued him live. a long time friend is defending the george zimmerman that he says he knows. i spoke to him late yesterday. so mr. taffy, you know george zimmerman. what is he like? >> george zimmerman is a very congenial, admirable person. he was very, very kind to everyone in our community. and i really appreciated and so did the rest of our residents in our neighborhood that he stepped up and took over the position as neighborhood watch captain to ensure the safety of all the residents in our community. >> you say he actually stopped a potential burglary at your house a couple weeks ago before the shooting? >> that is correct. >> and were you surprised that he was carrying a gun? were you aware he carried a gun? >> i was extremely shocked to the fact that he was carrying a gun, yes. >> what shocked you? how did it shock you? >> the lethal weapon. it wasn't george. as i said, he was a very congenial man. amiable man. the use of a lethal weapon, a deadly lethal weapon as a .9 millimeter that he used was very shocking to me. it just didn't fit the person. >> have there been burglaries in your neighborhood? what is the neighborhood like? >> i have lived at twin lakes since 2006, july 2006. in the last 15 months, anderson, we have experienced 8 burglaries, 1 which was perpetrated during the daylight hours. most, the majority of the perpetrators were young black males. >> and i mean when you reflect on what's happened and what we know about and obviously a lot isn't known, what do you think? >> this was a perfect storm. you had a neighborhood that was experiencing extremely high tension, anxiety and with the burglaries, everybody was at -- pardon my phrase, we were at defcon five. >> i guess, you know, a lot of people believe race played a factor in this. from what you know about george zimmerman, do you believe race played a factor? >> absolutely not. >> why do you feel so strongly about that? >> george is not a racist. he was just performing his duties as watch captain, whether it be african-american, latino, asian or white. he would have done the same thing. he would approach that person and just ask them what is your business here? and if he just answered him in an appropriate manner as, you know, i'm just here visiting, my mother's house is around the corner and be up front and truthful, there wouldn't have been any problem. >> well, mr. taffy, i appreciate your perspective. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, anderson. >> we're trying to get as many different perspectives of people in that community to you tonight. let us know what you think. we're on facebook, google plus, follow me on twitter. @andersoncooper. i'll be tweeting tonight. much more on the killing of trayvon martin. did george zimmerman use a racial slur when he called 911? we're going to play you the tape uncensored. you can decide for yourself. he says something under his breath. a lot of people believe it is a racial slur. we're going to play it for you. you can determine. what's important about that, the reason we're doing that because if it was a racial slur, that might allow the federal government to bring charges based on what was in george zimmerman's head based on him saying a racial slur. so it has a very important legal role and could really influence what role the federal government has moving forward in this. so that's why we're going to play it for you. we're going to look at what role florida's controversial stand your ground law also played in the shooting death of a young husband and father, another case that raised a lot of questions. we'll be right back. this is $100,000. we asked total strangers to watch it for us. thank you so much, i appreciate it, i'll be right back. they didn't take a dime. how much in fees does your bank take to watch your money ? 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i mean, he killed my husband. he could have just talked to him. >> reporter: whether or not trevor duely fired in self-defense is at the heart of this case. also central to the story is duely's defense, florida's stand your ground law. it allows a person to stand their ground and use deadly force if they fear someone could seriously harm them. here's what witnesses say happened on that september sunday in 2010. 41-year-old david james was playing basketball with his daughter here when witnesses say duely who lived right across the street started yelling at a teenager who was skate boarding to get off the court. that's when witnesses say james intervened. james yelled back to duely asking him to show where any signs said no skateboarding. duely then crossed the street to the park to confront james. a tennis player at the park, michael witt, testified things turned ugly when duely reached for his waistband. witt said james that lunged at due du duely. the two men struggled on the ground before james was shot once through the heart. on the 911 call, witt is heard trying to help. >> sir, can you hear me? kir, can you hear me? sir, can you hear me? he's not in the chest, ma'am. >> he's not breathing? >> he's not breathing. >> mr. duely, what do you want to say about what happened? >> no comment. >> reporter: duely tells a different story that contradicts the witnesses. he says when he took the gun out of his right front pocket, james saw it and knocked him to the ground. at a hearing to get the charges dismissed, duely testified, "he was choking me to death." >> you agree you do not want to go to prison for killing david james. do you think you should? yes or no? >> no. >> reporter: duely's lawyer said that his client turned to walk away towards home and james was saying that duely did pull a gun but didn't use it until he felt his life was threatened. he says the charges against his client should be dropped given the stand your ground law. his wife says her husband of 13 years had never been aggressive. he was a gentle family man. she believes he was trying to protect himself and their daughter danielle after he saw duely pull a gun. >> he loved danielle so much. that breaks my heart that trevor duely took my daughter's best friend away from her. she'll never have her daddy. >> reporter: danielle's testimony about how and why the situation turned violent is key in a case that hinges on self-defense. danielle now 10 recalled how her father asked duely where the signs were that said no skate boarding on the court. >> my dad got on top of him so he could keep him down so he could get the answer. >> where were your dad's hands? >> on his arms. >> on the man's arms? >> yeah. >> reporter: the little girl then recalled her father's last moments. >> i think the guy pulled out the gun then. >> did you hear anything? >> yeah. >> what did you hear? >> like when it shot. >> you heard a gunshot? >> yeah. >> did your dad say anything then? >> yeah. >> what did he say? >> call the ambulance. i've been shot. >> reporter: when kanina james got there, her husband was already dead, and her daughter was crying, asking why isn't anyone helping my daddy? randi kaye, cnn, valrico, florida. >> so the stand your ground law may be at the heart of this case moving forward. let's take a closer look at the controversial law. i talked with florida state legislator, a man named dennis backsly, a co-sponsor of stand your ground and jeffrey toobin. representative baxly, i know you don't want to get ahead of the grand jury. i totally understand the reasoning behind that. from what you know about the killing of trayvon martin, do you believe that the man who fired the gun, george zimmerman, should be protected by the stand your ground law, a law that you are one of the co-sponsors of? >> well, the castle doctrine, this bill also referred to, stand your ground has always has been about protecting people from violent attack. there is nothing in this statute that provides for a person to be able to pursue and confront other people. so i think any individual is on very thin ice when they get outside the realm of that protection. >> jeff, you wrote a column today, essentially saying that the folks behind this law have a lot to answer for. >> absolutely. representative baxley, let me ask you. wouldn't florida be a safer place under the old law which said if you're carrying a gun in your pocket and you're on a public street and you get involved in a confrontation, you have a duty to step back and let the police handle it instead of firing your gun yourself. wouldn't florida be safer with the duty to retreat? >> well, in fact, florida's not unique. this very statute went to 26 more states after it left here. so we're really in line with about half the country or more, more than half the country. and, in fact, the difficulty with the duty to retreat is it's really a monday morning quarterback armchair situation where you're saying a person could have done something different. when you're in that moment and you're under attack, you have to make a decision. do you want to be the victim or do you want them to be the victim that's the perpetrator of this action against you? so i'm going to stand on the side of law-abiding citizens and say, you have the right to defend yourself from harm. >> were you surprised to hear somebody in a neighborhood watch was carrying a weapon, was carrying a gun? >> i was, because from what i've heard about the crime watch programs that typically that is not part of the scenario because of what could happen. so there is a lot of questions to be answered in that regard. and there may be more legislation in that regard. but i would really hate to dilute the protection that we provided law-abiding sit sengs to act in the interest of their families and themselves. >> so you don't believe that stand your ground needs to be rewritten in any way? >> no, i don't. i think there may be other legislation. but i would hate to di men negotiation the fact that we have truly developed a policy that allows people to prevent bad things from happening to them and their families. and it's been successful. >> jeff toobin, from your perspective what ways raises questions? >> what raises question is it essentially gives private citizens the license to say, hey, i feel threatened, so i'm going to fire my gun. i think that is why we have a trained police force. that is not why -- that is not a safe situation, whether it's -- >> well, here's the flaw with your analysis. you know, one of my five children is a deputy sheriff.