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| This image released by ABC shows host Robin Roberts, left, with Juror B29 from the George Zimmerman trial, center, and attorney David Chico on "Good Morning America," in New York on Thursday, July 25, 2013. Portions of Roberts' interview with the only minority juror from the Zimmerman trial, will air on "World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer," and "Nightline" on Thursday and the full interview will air on "Good Morning America," on Friday. |
ORLANDO, Fla.
(AP) -- The second juror to speak publicly told ABC News in an
interview made available Thursday that she feels George Zimmerman got
away with murder for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, but that there
wasn't enough evidence at trial to convict him under Florida law.
Juror
B29 told Robin Roberts that she favored convicting Zimmerman of
second-degree murder when deliberations began by the six-member,
all-women jury.
"I was the juror that was going to give them a hung jury," she said. "I fought to the end."
But
by the second day of deliberating, she realized there wasn't enough
proof to convict the 29-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer of a
crime.
"George Zimmerman got away with murder,
but you can't get away from God," she said. "And at the end of the day,
he's going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with."
Zimmerman
was acquitted earlier this month of second-degree murder and
manslaughter charges in the 2012 slaying of the unarmed 17-year-old. The
Miami teenager was shot and killed during a confrontation with
Zimmerman in Sanford. The case spawned heated national debates about
racial profiling and the so-called Stand Your Ground self-defense laws
in Florida and other states.
Zimmerman was
seen publicly for the first time last week when he assisted a family
after their SUV flipped over on a Florida highway.
Juror
B29 is the second panelist to go public with what went on during
deliberations earlier this month. She allowed her face to be shown and
used her first name, Maddy, unlike Juror B37, who was interviewed on CNN
last week with her face obscured.
Four
jurors, not including the one interviewed by ABC, issued a statement
last week saying the opinions expressed by Juror B37 to CNN's Anderson
Cooper did not represent their views.
That
juror said the actions of Zimmerman and Martin both led to the
teenager's fatal shooting, but that Zimmerman didn't actually break the
law.
Juror B29 also told ABC that she didn't
believe race was an issue at the trial. Though the judge so far has
refused to release the names or biographical information about the
jurors, B29 said she was 36 years old and Puerto Rican.
Martin
was black and Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic. Martin's
parents believe Zimmerman racially profiled their son when he started
following him after spotting him walking through the neighborhood where
Zimmerman lived and Martin was visiting. B29 said she couldn't speak for
her fellow jurors on the race issue.
The other women on the jury were
white.
Juror B29 is a nursing assistant and mother of eight children who recently moved to Florida from Chicago.
She said she feels like she owes Martin's parents an apology.
"I
felt like I let a lot of people down, and I'm thinking to myself, `Did I
go the right way? Did I go the wrong way?'" she said. "As much as we
were trying to find this man guilty ... They give you a booklet that
basically tells you the truth, and the truth is that there was nothing
that we could do about it."
