Juror B37: Zimmerman's heart was in the right place
In an exclusive interview on AC360, Zimmerman trial Juror B37 told Anderson she thought George Zimmerman had every right to carry a gun.
She told Anderson she thinks Zimmerman is guilty of not using good judgement. "I think George Zimmerman is a man whose 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 really should have done."
The juror said she thought George Zimmerman should not have gotten out of his car after calling 911. "The 911 operator also when he was talking to him, kind of egged him on." She said the operator should have advised George to stay in his car instead of asking him, "Can you see where he’s gone?"
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Post by: Anderson Cooper Filed under: Crime & Punishment • George Zimmerman • Juror B37 • Trayvon Martin |
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Why would Trayvon who chose to hide in the bushes, want to unhide himself, accost George & start the fight, without George himself following him & playing gotcha ? Why did the prosecution miss this point?
This Juror keeps saying that George had a right to defend himself. However George Zimmerman followed Trayvon, profiled him to be a thief, which he was not. Doesn't Trayvon had a right to defend himself too. George Zimmerman was armed, Trayvon had only sweet tea and skittles in his hands, this is crazy, where is the justice. The jurors were biased and did not look at all the flaws in this case. George zimmerman was not to pursuit, he did. He was armed, Trayvon was not. That is reasonable doubt to me that George Zimmerman was the initiator, he was following the kid. Come on. Where is Trayvon's rights to defend himself here, does the "stand your ground" law, only apply to some people?
Please be reminded that according to the other witness who testified she had never seen and or had any knowledge that "Z" was neighbor hood watch, I mean if there is any truth to his position she should/would have known since she was a resident for about "4" years. Also if there is any truth to his position, he should/would have known "T" parents and would have contacted them to confirm if "T" had a right to be in the area. Also did "Z" live in the complex, I mean that's what he indicated on the "911" call but was it true? I mean it looks like he "Z" was trespassing!
@Jasmine-With respect, I disagree with your view of this. Both Martin and Zimmerman had a right to be on that sidewalk. We will never know if it was fear or anger that drove Martin to strike Zimmerman and then mount him and bash his head into the ground, but those are the facts in evidence, which allowed Zimmerman to defend himself. I am a parent and could not even begin to understand what that 17 year old young man's parents going through, but to leave Martin guiltless in this matter is very biased. I guess my question would be, what would have happened to Zimmerman had he not had a gun? Where would he be right now and where would Martin be the one in prison for attempred murder or assault??
I feel for this juror! She was set up! She was being courageous! There are many different type of lifestyles in America!
You do not have to understand a particular lifestyle to apply the law! She was not judgmental of differences! Now she is being judged and persecuted
Hate, anger, blame, self-pity, etc are not the heart of America!
I have been watching the coverage of the Zimmerman case and I think he is guilty. The justice system failed him, just like it has failed so many others before. I had a conversation with my daughter and I told her that I fear for my grandkids, I fear for any child born into this society. This world has changed and not for the better. I can't understand for the life of me why Zimmerman felt he had to walk around with a gun, and why people defend that, it is totally beyond me.
As a therapist I am analyzing what B-37 is verbally communicating and it is disturbing.
Mr. Cooperyou are very educated now why was liberia formed what was said about one of the Adminstration say about trouble in the U.S. or that he could see down the line. I ask this same question to all that answer rour comment line
I was a juror in a Florida Stand Your Ground case. The black defendant was found not guilty for killing his white friend. We the jury felt he had no choice when his friend attempted to kill or cause bodily harm with a tire iron. The defendant shot his friend twice while the deceased swung the tire iron toward the defendants head. All this nonsense over a money dispute. No one is threatening the defendant for his actions. Nor should they!!!
I don't understand. Juror B37 didn't even have the witnesses straight when Anderson asked her who was the the most impressive witness, she created an amalgam. She couldn't get the witnesses straight, but she trusted implicitly in the testimony that supported George Zimmerman? Anderson even tried to correct the confusion, but she marched on.
Whaaa, whaaa, whaaa. Justice was served, get over it.
If juror B37 had the guts to say, "not guilty" she should have the courage to show her face, now she wants to write a book, we know her story already; she was not a juror of George Zimmerman's peer. What about her make her his peer? She totally disconnected to Trayvon, who was and is the victim! Racism is alive and well.
How come that juror refers to zimmerman in a very familiar way "George" ; everyone else says George zimmerman. Did she know him? How is she so "warm' when speaking about him.
So let me get this straight….Zimmerman was guilty of "bad judgement" but you couldn't say the same when Trayvon Martin decided to defend himself after being stalked and followed ( although I don't think him defending himself when incorrectly confronted for going home was bad judgment)? Furthermore, you said the operator egged him on? In one 911 call they asked if Zimmerman was following Trayvon, Zimmeren replied "yes" and the operator said "we don't need you to do that sir" and he continued anyway. Furthermore, Trayvon was not a suspicious strange run the neighborhood….did you forget his father lived there….implying he had just as much right as zimmerman to walk around? This is crazy.
I am sorry for the misspelling of Trayvon's name in my previous comment. It is bad enough that this teen lost his life by being profiled as a thief based on his appearance. Trayvon had nothing to do with those robberies. Zimmerman falsely accused and made an example of this scared teen who was talking on the phone with his girlfriend while trying to get home to his family as fast as he could. Zimmerman did more than just follow this teen, he killed him. He kept on repeatedly following this teen even after he ran. I would have been scared as hell and thought my life was in danger if a man were following me like that. He was right to think that because he did lose his life!
1. A 6 man jury is not fair... this woman said they save pressured the holdout to stay and probably had to feel to vote like them. This is awful... 12 man jury must. Be mandatory ... there would have been a much different verdict if 12 people were on that jury. They pressured her to vote their way ...... not right......
2. The jurore on air in your interview is an obvious red neck, right wing gun supporter and racist ... really pathetic .. there are so many well educated people in America but they do not live in Florida!!! I am sad for the martin family and scared because these scary, ignorant, mean ugly proposition this country. Pathetic.
Seriously why doesn't anyone see these jurors as being mental for taking a 3-D model made up video as if it were a real camera? Zimmerman lied constantly and that shown he intended to do wrong here. Zimmerman refused to give his full address to allow the police to get there faster. Then he lied about getting out of the car and following this teen on foot. You can here his change in breathing in the tape. Then when this scared teen stopped to see who was stalking him Zimmerman whispered to him (he probably pointed to his gun and gestured he was going to shoot) That is based on this grown mans behavior. Then Trevon ran, Zimmerman stated that. So why did Zimmerman continue to pursue at this point??? He intended to harm this child. This is so sad. The jurors should be ashamed of themselves. What if their kids were treated like this how would they feel then?
When is it allowed for a juror to apply their own look into case. How can a juror state "I believe that Trevon thought he wasn't going to let George have this one up on him", sounds like a personal opinion or somebody lied about not being influenced by the news. This was not evident and could be considered in the verdict. But we know now it did, Juror B57 stated in part 2 of your interview.
I agree with you 100%, juror B57, keep talking, the real you will come out, most of things she is saying do not make sense, look at her back ground that in it self tells you who and what she is really about. The real issue here is that Zimmerman started it all. Race was addressed but wasn't focused on...B57 you lie, truth will come out!!!!
Can't belive what I am hearing.
Did Trayvon not have the right to protect him self also? like George he had every right to be there he was just trying to get home peacefully to watch the game on TV, while George was following him. If he look suspicious because he was looking around or looking back that was because he was scared for his life and was looking around for a REAL POLICE OFFICER to help him or anyone else other than the man that was following him. I am sure that Juror B37 would have done the same thing also, weather it was a black or white guy following her. Mr O moro said he could have run, why should he have run? for George to shoot him in the back because he ran which means he is guilty of some crime and then today we would not have a case against him. if Trayvon looking around was suspicious then running would mean he is guilty and give George every right to shoot him I think he did the right thing by standing his ground.
Hi Claudia,
I have veen saying the same thing in my m ind. Trayvon was unarmed, George was armed. Trayvon had a right to defend himself to, but instead they charge him with aggravbated assault and they were not even there. There is no evidence that states who through the first punch, but he told Rachekl that he was being followed. Juror B-37 is so contradictory and so Bias. She says George did not use proper judgement and should have stayed in his car, but she is saying that he had to shoot Trayvon, who was unarmed, like Trayvon wasn't supposed to defend himself. She sounds to me that she made up her mind before the deliberations even started with the little evidence she had, very biased towards George...smh
This is medicine after death. These jurors should stop patronizing Trayvon's parents by trying to say that Zimmerman made some mistakes. What's done is done, let the parents mourn their son.
Let's examine the real issue – how is it that a juror can say she believed that Zimmernan's heart was in the right place when he was in an aggravating pursuit of a young man. How can she then turn around and blame seclusion for her failure to see or feel the heart of America. As a whole, we are indeed this far from any truth in the matter.
I would like to know why juror B-37 said about Rachel that "that is how they live" or something along those lines. Who is they? When she made that statement I thought she was never going to find George Zimmerman guilty. How did the jury get to be all white and why did the prosecution agree to the jury selections? Tryayvon Martin was killed and it is a sad day in Americal that the jury did not realize that fact.
That interview with the juror completely changed my way of seeing the verdict. I was upset about the verdict. I couldn't understand how they could say he wasn't guilty. But her explanation that they had to focus on only the question of whether Zimmerman was afraid for his life, and leave out all the rest of it, I understand completely. It must have been unbelievably difficult to leave out the emotion and focus solely on the law.