Zimmerman Trial Juror B29 Gives New Resolve To Trayvon Martin Protesters
Zimmerman trial juror B29 has put new life into protests of Trayvon Martin’s death when she said regretted that the jury couldn’t put George Zimmerman away for murder.
In an interview with ABC News, the juror known only as Maddy said she feels like she let Martin’s family down, saying that George Zimmerman “got away with murder” in shooting the Florida teenager.
While the 36-year-old Puerto Rican woman said she believed the case should never have gone to trial, she noted that afterward she felt she owed an apology to Trayvon Martin’s parents for letting them down.
“It’s hard for me to sleep, it’s hard for me to eat because I feel I was forcefully included in Trayvon Martin’s death,” Zimmerman trial juror B29 said. “And as I carry him on my back, I’m hurting as much Trayvon’s Martin’s mother because there’s no way that any mother should feel that pain,” she said.
She added that she tried to hold out against other jurors, discussing the different options they had other than acquittal.
“I was the juror that was going to give them the hung jury,” she said.
The words have given new life to protesters, who have continued their fight even two weeks after the verdict was leveled. Many have aimed at voiding Florida’s stand your ground law, which allowed George Zimmerman to use lethal force against what he felt was a threat.
In Washington, Trayvon Martin’s father has pushed for a law that would make it illegal to racially profile minors and then kill them in self-defense.
“What can we do as African-American men to instill in our kids that you don’t have to be afraid to walk outside of the house, go to the store and get a bag of Skittles and iced tea and not make it home,” Tracy Martin said in Washington.
The full interview with Zimmerman trial juror B29 will air Friday morning on Good Morning America.
