On CNN’s Starting Point, Soledad O’Brien interviewed audio forensics expert Tom Owen, chair emeritus at the American Board of Record Evidence, who used voice identification software to rule out George Zimmerman as the one screaming for help on the 911 calls the night he shot Trayvon Martin. “We have the tape of Zimmerman, we have the tape of the screams and then we can start the comparison, and basically it’s going to do this comparison,” Owen pointed out. “If you can see the screen now, and it’s going to give me some false rejection rates, some false acceptance rates, and a likelihood ratio, okay. and this gray dot over here designates the very lower end of the scale, which in essence, is translated as it’s not him.”

After almost two weeks as a national news story, the Trayvon Martin case has elevated many tempers and flared up more than a few political wars– so yesterday’s Beyond Trayvon special on CNN, hosted by Soledad O’Brien, was a welcome change of pace to the story. Rather than the brief and punchy 5-minute debates on other networks over the story or its politicization, or the extended humiliations of weak witnesses and lawyers (and sometimes empty chairs) that characterized the week…

The elderly Florida couple, Elaine and David McClain, who were the victims of an erroneous tweet by filmmaker Spike Lee spoke to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on Thursday and accepted his apology via Twitter, but still sought a formal retraction before they felt it was safe to go back home.

Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, parents of slain teenager Trayvon Martin, continued their tireless advocacy to achieve a measure of justice for their son. In an emotional interview with Starting Point‘s Soledad O’Brien, they refocused attention on the search for justice, not vengeance, but Ms. Fulton made it clear she has an outcome in mind, telling O’Brien “I really believe that this guy chased my son, and my son was protecting himself. My son was exercising his stand your ground rule.”

Former television reporter and anchor Joe Oliver continues to make the media rounds on behalf of his friend George Zimmerman, who shot and killed 17 year old Trayvon Martin, and whose claims of self defense Oliver seeks to bolster.

CNN contributor Roland Martin spoke with Soledad O’Brien on Tuesday’s Starting Point and took a shot at former NAACP leader C.L. Bryant and his comments accusing Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton of “exploiting” Trayvon Martin‘s death to “racially divide this country.” “Where’s Rev. C.L. Bryant?” Martin exclaimed. “Where’s he fighting for justice? It’s as simple as that.”

As pressure continues to mount for an arrest in the killing of Trayvon Martin, the media is beginning to turn its attention to the New Black Panthers, who distributed “Wanted: Dead Or Alive” leaflets for shooter George Zimmerman, and have offered a $10,000 bounty for his “capture.”

On CNN’s Starting Point Monday morning, host Soledad O’Brien asked Sanford City Manager Norton Bonaparte Jr. about the bounty, and while she correctly identified the group, a chyron that ran during the 2-minute segment read “Black Panthers Offer Bounty.”

CNN’s Soledad O’Brien spoke with Republican National Committee chief Reince Priebus on Starting Point Tuesday morning and questioned him over Santorum’s recent comments about unemployment, which she characterized as a gaffe, despite Slate’s Dave Weigel claiming the Republican hopeful was taken out of context.

On Monday, CNN Starting Point host Soledad O’Brien delved into the death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teen who had been shot by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, while walking back from a convenience store.

While campaigning for his share of Puerto Rico’s 23 delegates, presidential up-and-comer Rick Santorum deployed an odd strategy: insisting that federal law requires English to be the “main language” in order to achieve statehood. On Thursday morning’s Starting Point, political strategist Hank Sheinkopf called Santorum a “doofus” for making the gaffe, but CNN contributor Will Cain pointed out that the former Pennsylvania Senator’s claim wasn’t completely out of left field.

The upcoming documentary Bully, which is fighting for a more teen-friendly MPAA rating, tells the stories of bullied teenagers from Iowa, among other places. As if to illustrate the uphill battle kids face against not just the bullies, but indifferent or ineffectual schools, a school in that same state recently hired Junkyard Prophet, a Christian rock band whose ministry has been designated a hate group by the SPLC, to host an anti-bullying assembly, with disturbing results.

Hell hath no fury like a conservative pwned, or something like that. On the heels of her tough interview with Breitbart.com Editor-in-Chief Joel Pollak, the Big sites published a furious series of posts accusing Soledad O’Brien of everything from mourning the loss of a historic black figure to using Wikipedia. On Monday, O’Brien featured a guest who debunked Pollak’s twisted vision of Critical Race Theory, and at the end of the segment, jokingly asked for the “crazy tweets” on the subject to stop. That request unleashed a blizzard of conservative Twitter attacks on O’Brien, accusing her of “lying” or worse.

The back-and-forth between CNN’s Soledad O’Brien and Breitbart.com Chief Editor Joel Pollak continued on this morning’s Starting Point, as O’Brien sought to dispel misinformation about the late Professor Derrick Bell and Critical Race Theory, which have been the subject of smears by the Big sites. After a tough interview with O’Brien last week, Pollak’s Big sites went on a vengeful tirade against the CNN anchor, posting a flurry of articles seeking to discredit her, and promoting their warped vision of Prof. Bell.

In a sadly ironic move, Breitbart.com satellite site Big Journalism, which recently (and tragically) lost founder Andrew Breitbart, has decided to exact revenge for a tough interview by attacking CNN’s Soledad O’Brien on the basis of tweets that she sent the day Professor Derrick Bell died. More poetically, in trying to impugn O’Brien’s journalistic integrity, they made the most basic of embarrassing mistakes, misspelling the name of Breitbart.com Editor-in-chief Joel Pollak, referencing a “Joel Pollack.”

Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour‘s controversial pardons were upheld by the court on Thursday, and following the decision, Soledad O’Brien spoke to Randy Walker — whose wife was shot by David Gatlin, one of the pardoned convicts, and who was shot in the head himself. Walker said the court’s decision was “politically easy,” and that if he sees Gatlin he would take it as a threat and defend himself.

CNN’s Starting Point got heated Thursday as Breitbart.com’s Editor-In-Chief Joel Pollak clashed with host Soledad O’Brien about the significance of the video of President Obama hugging a Harvard professor. O’Brien didn’t quite understand why the recently publicized video was a “bombshell.”

Following the media outrage over Rush Limbaugh‘s provocative remarks, Michele Bachmann took to CNN make an argument we’ve heard from some others already: that the media doesn’t express the same disgust when the woman being attacked is conservative. When violent statements were made about her, she said, there was no response.

Super Tuesday is finally here, and on Tuesday morning CNN’s Soledad O’Brien got Florida congressman Allen West‘s take on the race. The conversation took a less serious turn when O’Brien addressed Sarah Palin‘s recommendation that West should be the vice presidential candidate — and West laughingly called the question an “ambush.”

This is the kind of story that makes you proud to be an American. A pair of thieves got more than they bargained for when they snatched a cash box full of about $200 in Girl Scout cookie money in a Texas Wal Mart parking lot on Saturday. Scout Iravia Cotton punched one of the thieves in the face through the passenger window of the getaway car, while fellow scout Rachel Johnson jumped on the getaway car, and was dragged as the thieves sped off (she was treated on the scene for minor injuries).

On CNN’s Starting Point, Monday morning, Soledad O’Brien grilled Republican Congressman Eric Cantor over his recent endorsement of Mitt Romney and whether the former Massachusetts governor was a “true conservative.” “Sounds like you’re saying the economy, the economy, the economy. I’m curious to know if you’re also saying that by your support, it’s really Mitt Romney who is the true conservative here?” O’Brien questioned.

The typically acerbic Conservative icon Ann Coulter was a guest on Soledad O’Brien‘s Starting Point Friday morning, and wistfully discussed the wide-reaching legacy of Andrew Breitbart.

On CNN’s Starting Point, Soledad O’Brien took Rick Santorum spokesperson Alice Stewart to the toolshed over whether the Republican presidential contender lost the Catholic vote after news of his comments that John F. Kennedy’s speech on religion in politics made him want to “throw up.”

On Monday, CNN’s Starting Point ran a story about a banker who left a 1% tip at a California restaurant, along with a note that said “Get a real job!”

The story originated on the internet, went viral, and after making it all the way to CNN’s air, was revealed to be a hoax. Soledad O’Brien delivered the news on Wednesday morning’s Starting Point.

On CNN’s Starting Point, Monday morning, Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin sparred with commentator Will Cain over the Koran burnings and the Republican presidential contender’s reaction to the Obama Administration apologizing.

“Just go back to history a little bit to 9/11. President George W. Bush, I sure had my differences with him,” Durbin observed. “But I thought he got it right and he stuck with it through his presidency.”

On CNN’s Starting Point Friday morning, host Soledad O’Brien interviewed former GE CEO Jack Welch and his wife Suzy. At one point, the morning show anchor caught Welch completely off-guard when she asked him why GE paid no federal taxes.