It looks like we won’t be reading about juror B-37’s experience at the George Zimmerman trial after all.
A day after the anonymous juror, through a literary agent, said she was going to write a tell-all, the Florida woman took back her offer.
“Now that I am returned to my family and to society in general, I have realized that the best direction for me to go is away from writing any sort of book and return instead to my life as it was before I was called to sit on this jury,” she said in a statement.
The reversal comes after the juror, one of six women on the country’s most talked about panel, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Zimmerman and teenager Travyon Martin were “both responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into,” adding “I think they both could have walked away.”
She also said she didn’t think Martin’s race was the reason why Zimmerman, then a volunteer neighborhood watchman, followed him. The juror said she believed Zimmerman had a right to defend himself. “I have no doubt George feared for his life in the situation he was in at the time.”
The woman also 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.
Literary and media manager Sharlene Martin distanced herself from the book deal in a statement to msnbc. “I decided to rescind my offer of representation after watching Juror B37 on Anderson Cooper 360. I believe I made a grave error in judgment in wanting to represent this story. Shortly after the show aired, I reached out to B37and suggested we terminate our book representation agreement.”
There was no publisher for the book lined up yet.
The juror, who was going to write the book with her attorney husband, added : “I realize it was necessary for our jury to be sequestered in order to protect our verdict from unfair outside influence, but that isolation shielded me from the depth of pain that exists among the general public over every aspect of this case. The potential book was always intended to be a respectful observation of the trial from my and my husband's perspectives solely and it was to be an observation that our ‘system’ of justice can get so complicated that it creates a conflict with our 'spirit’ of justice.
Zimmerman, a former volunteer neighborhood watchman who shot and killed Travyon Martin in February 2012, was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter. He said he shot Martin in self-defense after Martin attacked him.
Four of the other jurors issued a statement Tuesday.
We, the undersigned jurors, understand there is a great deal of interest in this case. 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.Serving on this jury has been a highly emotional and physically draining experience for each of us. The death of a teenager weighed heavily on our hearts but in the end we did what the law required us to do.We appeal to the highest standards of your profession and ask the media to respect our privacy and give us time to process what we have been through.Thank you,Juror B-51Juror B-76Juror E-6Juror E-40
Note: George Zimmerman has sued NBC Universal for defamation. The company strongly denies the allegation.