A member of the jury in George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial spoke publicly for the first time Monday night, saying that only three of six jurors thought Zimmerman should be acquitted when deliberations began.
Two members of the all-female jury believed Zimmerman was guilty of manslaughter, while one felt he was guilty of second-degree murder, the woman said on CNN.
The jury ultimately found Zimmerman not guilty.
Juror B37, whose image was obscured during the interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, said she believes the neighborhood watch volunteer was well intentioned but became overzealous because of a string of break-ins in his Sanford, Fla., neighborhood.
The woman said Zimmerman “shouldn’t have gotten out of that car” during his phone call with a police dispatcher when he initially reported that Trayvon Martin was in his neighborhood.
She also said that none of the five fellow jurors believed race played a factor in the Feb. 26, 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Martin, who was African-American.
The juror—who less than 48 hours after the verdict was read had signed with a literary agent in preparation to write a book about her experience—said she had “no doubt” that Zimmerman feared for his life and was acting in self-defense when he shot the 17-year-old.
The woman said Zimmerman had a right to carry a gun, and did not take issue that he may be eligible to have it returned to him.
“I think it’s everybody’s right to carry a gun,” she said.
Though she said she was unaware of the national attention the trial received until the trial was over, she said the verdict took an emotional toll on the jurors once it was decided.
“After we put our vote in and the bailiff had taken our vote, that’s when everybody started to cry,” she said.
“It was just hard, thinking that someone had lost their life, that nothing else could be done about it. What happened was sad, it’s a tragedy that it happened, but it happened,” she said.
Juror B37 will enlist her husband, an attorney who works in the aerospace industry, as her co-author of the upcoming book, agent Sharlene Martin said in a statement earlier Monday.
“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,” Martin said.
“It could open a whole new dialogue about laws that may need to be revised and revamped to suit a 21st century way of life,” she added. “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.”
The woman has lived in the Sanford, Fla., area for 18 years and has two daughters–a 24-year-old pet groomer and a 27-year-old college student. During jury selection, she said she had been called for jury duty four times previously but never selected to sit on a case.
This story was originally posted on NBCNews.com
