The first member of the six-woman jury that acquitted George Zimmerman to speak out publicly said that Zimmerman’s “heart was in the right place.” Now a second juror has come forward and said she believes he got away with murder.
“George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can’t get away from God. And at the end of the day, he’s going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with,” juror B29, identified as “Maddy” on air, told ABC News’ Robin Roberts in an interview that aired Thursday. “The law couldn’t prove it, we just have to believe in the Lord that if he has to pay, he will pay.”
Juror B29, whom ABC identified as being of Puerto Rican descent, was the only person of color on the jury. She told Roberts that she was the last holdout among her fellow jurors in reaching a not guilty verdict. She said she initially wanted to convict Zimmerman of second-degree murder.
The 29-year-old Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., in February of 2012. Two weeks ago, juror B29 and five others found Zimmerman not guilty on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter. The acquittal set off protests in cities across the country and renewed calls for a federal civil rights investigation into Martin’s death.
NBC News reached out to Zimmerman’s lawyer, Mark O’Mara, but he did not respond to a request for comment on the interview.
Like juror B37, who spoke to CNN’s Anderson Cooper shortly after the verdict, juror B29 said that she felt the jury reached the right decision based on Florida law. “I stand by the decision because of the law,” she said. Nevertheless, juror B29 told Roberts that she still wonders if she did the right thing.
“I’m thinking to myself, did I go the right way, did I go the wrong way,” she said. “I know I went the right way because by the law, and the way it was followed, is the way I went. But If I would have used my heart, I probably would have went a hung jury.” Roberts asked if juror B29 regretted not forcing a hung jury. “Kind of,” juror 29 replied.
Asked by Roberts whether she felt “bullied” by the other jurors, juror B29 said “I don’t know if I was bullied, I trust that I wasn’t bullied but–“
“Did you feel your voice was heard?” Roberts asked.
“My voice was heard, I was the loudest, that’s for sure,” juror B29 said.
She also addressed Martin’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton. “I would like to apologize because I feel like I let them down, we just couldn’t prove anything,” she said.
“I feel that I was forcibly included in Trayvon Martin’s death,” she added. “I carry him on my back. I’m hurting as much as Trayvon Martin’s mom is, cause no way that any mother should feel that pain. I want Trayvon’s mom to know that I’m hurting. If she thought that nobody cared about her son, I could speak for myself, I do care. I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Fulton released a statement after the interview aired saying, “it is devastating for my family to hear the comments from juror B29, comments which we already knew in our hearts to be true. That George Zimmerman literally got away with murder.”
Note: George Zimmerman has sued NBC Universal for defamation. The company strongly denies the allegation.
Adam Serwer