Juror B37 on the jury that acquitted George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin received criticism from all over the country for her CNN interview Monday night and her decision to get a book deal just hours after the verdict was announced. It turns out that four of her fellow jurors are just as annoyed, releasing a statement saying that B37’s opinions do not reflect their own. They also appealed to the media for their privacy.
“We, the undersigned jurors, understand there is a great deal of interest in this case,” the four jurors, whose names were not released, said in the statement, notes The Orlando Sentinel. “But we ask you to remember that we are not public officials and we did not invite this type of attention into our lives. We also wish to point out that the opinions of Juror B-37, expressed on the Anderson Cooper show were her own, and not in any way representative of the jurors listed below.”
Later in the statement, the four women added that it was a “highly emotional and physically draining experience” for them. “The death of a teenager weighed heavily on our hearts but in the end we did what the law required us to do.”
There is one final member of the jury who has not spoken out. The sixth woman was the only minority on the jury, described only as black or Hispanic. She is married with children and lived in Chicago at the time of the shooting in February 2012.
B37 was interviews by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, revealing that there was “no doubt” in her mind that Zimmerman feared for his life. She had also signed a deal with a literary agent, but after outcry on social media and the web, she release a statement backing out of the deal.
The jury found Zimmerman not guilty in the shooting death of Florida teen Martin on Saturday night.
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