Juror B29 on Zimmerman Trial Says She Believed Zimmerman was Guilty

Last week one of the jurors on the George Zimmerman trial, Juror B29 who identified herself as Maddy, told Robin Roberts on ABC’s Good Morning America that she believed Zimmerman got away with murder. The first vote she cast during deliberations was “guilty of second degree murder”. 

“A lot of us wanted to find something bad, something that we could connect to the law. For myself,” she paused then continued with absolute conviction, “he’s guilty. The evidence shows he’s guilty.” She spoke of her deep sadness for Trayvon and his family and said she felt immense pain for having had to vote the way she did, but she believed that the law gave her no other option.

Her interview was moving, and markedly different to that of Juror B37 who kept her identity a secret and was the first to speak out after the trial. Anderson Cooper interviewed her. He clearly had little respect for her and she clearly didn’t see that. She identified with Zimmerman and showed no empathy for Trayvon Martin or sadness at the loss of his life. She intimated that it was his fault that he was killed, as he should have walked away from Zimmerman. 

She firmly believed Zimmerman had the right to kill Trayvon. It was quite horrifying to listen to her. Stupefying to realize that this was one of the people who served up ‘justice’.

At the same time as the interview, she released a video of her voir dire as part of a PR campaign for a book she’d written. She said later that she had changed her mind about the book – possibly because of all the negative reactions she got to the interview.  

The voir dire exposed a lot about her personality. She showed herself to be unsocialized and kind of proud of it, obsessed beyond balance with her many pets. She clearly enjoyed being in the spotlight and obviously desperately wanted to be on that jury. She said at one point that she didn’t know anything about national news – trying to prove that she wouldn’t be influenced as a juror by media – yet a couple of sentences later admitted that she watched national news on the TV.

It’s hard to say why the prosecution didn’t eliminate a woman inclined to manipulate fact to paint herself in a good light, prone to ludicrous contradictions with no awareness of them, and most interested in being center stage. Perhaps they just didn’t see her as a threat. 

What’s clear now is that the Zimmerman case was never about justice for her. It was an opportunity. Well illustrated by the fact that she was the first juror to speak out. Four of the other jurors, B51, B76, E6 and E40, immediately released a statement to the press saying “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." Maddy wasn’t part of that group, but her interview with Robin Roberts clearly shows which side of the fence she was on.

What happened behind those closed doors? Juror B37 was the only juror who positively believed and had absolutely no doubt from the start that Zimmerman was guilt free.  

Maddy wasn't alone in initially believing him to be guilty. But she said that in reviewing the law, they all came to realize that there wasn’t any hard evidence to prove Zimmerman acted unlawfully. She added that it was incredibly hard for her to let Zimmerman off but she believed she was doing what a juror is supposed to do – assess a case according to the law.

I suspect that two things happened: one, there was an alpha dog, a bully, in deliberations – Juror B37 – and the jurors didn’t understand that evidence didn’t need to be hard evidence to be acceptable. Maddy said “…as the law was read to me, if you have no proof he killed him intentionally, you can’t say he’s guilty.” But how did she and the others who believed he was guilty, interpret that word proof? And did Juror B37 have anything to do with them changing their minds?

There was plenty of proof that Zimmerman lied, that he had it in for African Americans; that he profiled Trayvon and picked an unnecessary fight. It just wasn’t CSI-type evidence and the prosecution didn’t present it in such a way that the jurors could understand its importance. 

I wonder if in the coming weeks any of the jurors will speak out and say they were misled about the law, or just didn't really understand it, or were bullied during deliberations. I wonder if that would be grounds for a re-trial. I think it’s time for Christianne Amanpour to interview Maddy; to present the evidence and ask her why she didn’t think it was valid. And what really happened during the deliberations.  

George Zimmerman Trial - a Horrifying Verdict

The acquittal of George Zimmerman by 6 jurors after 20 hours of deliberation is a horrifying indictment of a process that too often doesn't end in truth. How often does somebody get let off or convicted solely because they had the smarter attorneys?

We say that Justice is blind and in this case it was. There wasn't enough hard evidence for the jurors to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Zimmerman had motive for killing Trayvon Martin, not even for a manslaughter charge. Partly that was because the police believed Zimmerman's story when he told them he shot Trayvon in self defense and they didn't arrest him. Nor did they check Trayvon's clothes for DNA.

But there was evidence that Zimmerman was hugely prejudiced and very self deluded and perfectly at ease with lying to the police, the world and himself. I guess the prosecution just didn't present it clearly enough. Or perhaps they didn't have a chance, with the odds so stacked against them.

But in many ways, the real criminal here is the law in Florida that enables a person to kill somebody else who is not even armed if they believe they're a threat. Or they say they believe it. In a comment on a New York Times article a Betsy Herring of Edmond OK had this to say:

"Our country is in real trouble, folks. First we let the guy go who has gunned down a kid, next we harass women and make them feel like second class citizens in Texas, then we ignore the fact that 26 little kids are dead from gunfire, also we worship at the feet of the NRA, we have a supreme court which hands down bad decisions one after another, we hate our black President and denigrate him more than any other President (even the worst last one). We are beginning to remind me of America 1968 - one of the worst years ever. We are not on the winning side of history here. We are lost, lost, lost."

George Zimmerman Trial - the Jury's Out

In the final day of the George Zimmerman Trial closing arguments were (from defense) that Zimmerman was attacked by Trayvon Martin who he killed him in self defence; and (from prosecution) that Zimmerman was a racist, vigilante, wanna-be cop who profiled Trayvon, attributed criminal intent that didn’t exist, followed him and created a situation where he could kill him.

Reading about the evidence Zimmerman himself has given it’s hard to believe that a verdict wasn’t reached in a few minutes, but the jury deliberated for four hours before going into recess. 

Zimmerman’s intent, his heavily racist filters, and his self illusion were pretty clear even from the first police interview right after he killed Trayvon. The most damning piece of evidence he gave was that he knew everybody in the community, that Trayvon had never visited it once, and that nobody in the entire community had ever seen him. This was the first time, he alleged, that Trayvon had ever walked through, and he clearly had no business being there because he was walking slowly and it was raining.

Since this was the first time Zimmerman had ever seen Trayvon, how could he have had time to ask every single resident if they had ever seen him? 

The reality is that Trayvon’s father lived in that gated community with his girlfriend. Trayvon had gone to the store to buy some candy and a soda. He was ambling back. He had destination and clear intent and nothing about it was criminal.

It’s not a very rational man who can tell a story like Zimmerman’s that’s so ludicrous and so believe it to be credible that he would offer it to the police as a legitimate self defense story. 

The history of the actual community itself is important too. According to Robert Steuteville, quoted in Chicagomag.com, It started out being white; that was the point of the gate. It’s only six years old, but property values have declined seriously with the downturn. One resident was quoted as saying that owners were forced to rent out to “low-lifes and gangsters”. Ironically he was referring to Hispanics, African Americans and Asians. 

Was Zimmerman trying to prove that he was one of the good guys? At some level it seems likely. Was he succeeding in people’s eyes? Not everybody’s. One resident was quoted as saying that he was a busy-body playing wanna-be cop. That he was playing that role is obvious. That he made an ordinary kid into a criminal in his head with no rational grounds to do so is obvious. He chased that kid and got out of his car to follow him on foot, despite being told by police dispatch that he must stay in his car.

By his own assertion he’d dealt with police on many occasions so it’s impossible that he didn’t know he mustn’t get out of his car and play cop.

This is clearly a guy with a huge agenda, living in a fantasy world in his head. What about his parents? His father Robert Zimmerman recently epublished a book entitled Florida vs Zimmerman: Uncovering the malicious prosecution of my son George. In the introduction he says: 

“[In reading my book] You should come to understand that there are wholly unethical opportunists, including those in government, the legal profession and the media, simply for their own self serving interests [sic]. These individuals routinely utilize race to incite and agitate hatred and divisiveness for their own rewards.

…America is a wonderful land of opportunity. However as you read these pages it should also become clear that America has changed. Unfortunately many citizens now associate being American not with hard work, integrity and personal responsibility but with individual entitlement and continued demands for political correctness.” 

In his opinion the only racists in America are the African Americans.Which makes them complete monsters because they have no grounds for their prejudice. Now that's illusion for you.

Robert Zimmerman makes his wife out to be a saint and himself to be a hero, but he does it in such a self effacing way it’s nauseating. He says he never experienced racism his whole life except for one incident – therefore it didn’t exist. Which is kind of similar to the argument his son used. I’ve never seen this guy here before therefore he’s never been here. Zimmerman senior makes a very big deal out of the ‘truth’ that neither he nor his saintly wife nor his saintly, kindly son ever even noticed the color of a person’s skin. Just what was in their souls.

With a father so embedded in self-illusion it’s not hard to understand how George Zimmerman was out of touch with reality. That a child’s life got sacrificed to this kind of mentality is horrifying. If the jury doesn’t convict, it won’t be for lack of a solid case against Zimmerman. 

Sadly, a conviction won’t help Trayvon’s parents with their pain. But it will at least illustrate that some tiny, tiny bit of progress has been made on this horrifically long, incredibly arduous road towards a more rational society in America.  If Zimmerman isn't convicted it won't stop the journey of those on the road, but it will make it just that much harder.

I'm reminded of the words of a song Great Day which Dinah Washington sings divinely:

When skies were dark came Noah's Ark, Amen

When lions roared came Daniel's Lord, Amen

The Lord helps those who pray

And on judgment day

If you believe he shall receive you, Amen

When you're down and out, lift up your head and shout

There's gonna be a great day

Angels in the sky promise that by and bye

There's gonne be a great day

Gabriel will warn you some early morn you

Will hear his a rootin' tootin' 

It's not far away, hold out your hand and say

There's gonna be a great day

There's gonna be a great day