A member of the all-female jury for the George Zimmerman trial known to the world simply as “Juror B37” who recently announced plans to write a book about the case has apparently had a change of heart after grasping “the depth of pain” over it, the president of the agency who was to publish the book said.
Overall, Juror B37, who called Trayvon Martin a “boy of color” and doesn’t listen to the radio or read newspapers — “Newspapers are used in the parrot’s cage. Not even read,” she said. “It’s been so long since I even read one. The only time I see em is when I’m putting them down on the floor” — is a pretty ignorant person, based on what she said before the trial during the jury selection process:
– She dislikes the media in general and considers it worthless. “You never get all the information… it’s skewed one way or the other.”
– “I don’t listen to the radio” or read the internet, she said. Her only news about the case came from the Today show. “Newspapers are used in the parrot’s cage. Not even read,” she said. “It’s been so long since I even read one. The only time I see em is when I’m putting them down on the floor.”
– During questioning, she referred multiple times to “riots” in Sanford after Trayvon Martin was killed. “I knew there was rioting, but I guess [the authorities] had it pretty well organized,” she says at one point. In fact, despite a great deal of salivating anticipation by the media both before and after the trial, there were no riots in Sanford, Florida.
– She referred to the killing of Trayvon Martin as “an unfortunate incident that happened.”
– Asked by George Zimmerman’s attorney to describe Trayvon Martin, she said, “He was a boy of color.”
While the juror’s identity has not been revealed, answers she gave while being questioned during voir dire portion the trial proceedings indicated that she is a middle-aged white woman who has worked as a chiropractor for 16 years, and is a mother of two daughters aged 24 and 27. She grew up in a military family, and at one point had a permit for a concealed weapon, but let it expire, though her husband has a valid permit.
According to Sharlene Martin, the president of Martin Literary Management, Juror B37 and her husband reached out to her on July 14th, the day after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin.
Before the deal went south, Martin said “my hope is that people will read Juror B37’s book … and understand the commitment it takes to serve and be sequestered on a jury in a highly publicized murder trial and how important, despite one’s personal viewpoints, it is to follow the letter of the law. The reader will also learn why the jurors had no option but to find Zimmerman Not Guilty due to the manner in which he was charged and the content of the jury instructions.”
Martin also said the book could also “open a whole new dialogue about laws that may need to be revised and revamped to suit a 21st century way of life.”
After careful consideration of the book project with Zimmerman #JurorB37, I have decided to rescind my offer of representation.
— sharlene martin (@sharlenemartin) July 16, 2013
But in a statement released Monday night (through Martin’s Twitter account, and after Martin had rescinded her offer of representation), the juror had a “change of heart”:
“I realize it was necessary for our jury to be sequestered in order to protect our verdict from unfair outside influence, but that isolation shielded me from the depth of pain that exists among the general public over every aspect of this case. The potential book was always intended to be a respectful observation of the trial from me and my husband’s perspectives solely and it was to be an observation that our ‘system’ of justice can get so complicated that it creates a conflict with our ‘spirit’ of justice. Now that I am returned to my family and to society in general, I have realized that the best direction for me to go is away from writing any sort of book and return instead to my life as it was before I was called to sit on the jury.”
In other words, “after the media ripped me a new one, I have decided to punk out and cancel my book plans.”
Smart move, Juror B37. Smart move.
