The only minority on the all-female jury that voted to acquit George Zimmerman said today that Zimmerman “got away with murder” for killing Trayvon Martin and feels she owes an apology Martin’s parents.
“You can’t put the man in jail even though in our hearts we felt he was guilty,” said the woman who was identified only as Juror B29 during the trial. “But we had to grab our hearts and put it aside and look at the evidence.”
She said the jury was following Florida law and the evidence, she said, did not prove murder.
The court had sealed the jurors’ identities during the trial and still hasn’t lifted the order, but Juror B29 edged out of the shadows in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts. She allowed her face to be shown, but — concerned for her safety — used only a first name of Maddy.
The nursing assistant and mother of eight children was selected as a juror five months after she had moved to Seminole County, Fla., from Chicago.
All six of the jurors were women and Maddy, 36, who is Puerto Rican, was the only minority to deliberate in the racially charged case. Zimmerman, 29, was a white Hispanic and Martin, 17, was black.
Despite the prosecution’s claim the Zimmerman profiled Martin because he was black, Maddy said the case was never about race to her, although she didn’t want to speak for her fellow jurors. But her feelings about Zimmerman’s actions are clear.
“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,” Maddy said. “[But] the law couldn’t prove it.”
When the jury of six women—five of them mothers—began deliberations, Maddy said she favored convicting Zimmerman of second degree murder, which could have put him in prison for the rest of his life. The jury was also allowed to consider manslaughter, a lesser charge.
“I was the juror that was going to give them the hung jury. I fought to the end,” she said.
