Zimmerman Juror B37 Pushes for Law Change: 'Laws Left Me No Verdict Option'
Juror B37 has released a new statement encouraging lawmakers to change the laws that led to George Zimmerman's "not guilty" verdict.
Known only as juror B37, the lone female suggested during an interview on Monday that Trayvon Martin was partially at fault for his death. Her remarks quickly led to a backlash. Four members of the six-person jury distanced themselves from juror B37 on Wednesday, stating that they held different views.
In response, juror B37 has released what she says is her final statement to the media. In her statement, she appeared to backtrack on her previous train of thought and this time, showed remorse for the family of Trayvon Martin.
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"My prayers are with all those who have the influence and power to modify the laws that left me with no verdict option other than 'not guilty' in order to remain within the instructions. No other family should be forced to endure what the Martin family has endured," she said in the statement to CNN.
The juror had originally planned to write a book, but plans for a book deal fell through after her interview on "Anderson Cooper 360" Monday night.
During the interview she showed compassion for Zimmerman stating that his heart "was in the right place but just got displaced by the vandalism in the neighborhoods and wanting to catch these people so badly that he went above and beyond what he should have done." The woman held both George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin accountable for their actions.
"I think both were responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into," she told Cooper. "I think they both could have walked away."
In a statement released by four jurors on Wednesday, the group stated that they did not agree with juror B37.
"The opinions of Juror B37, expressed on the Anderson Cooper show were her own, and not in any way representative of the jurors listed below," said the statement, signed by Jurors B51, B76, E6 and E40.
"Serving on this jury has been a highly emotional and physically draining experience for each of us," the statement said. "The death of a teenager weighed heavily on our hearts but in the end we did what the law required us to do."
