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Trayvon Martin‘s mother, Sybrina Fulton, says the family of the slain teenager is devastated by Robin Roberts‘ interview with a juror who thinks George Zimmerman “got away with murder.”
Juror B29, who asked to be identified only as “Maddy,” broke her silence Thursday in an exclusive sitdown with Roberts, revealing that even though jurors felt Zimmerman “was guilty” of killing Martin, “we had to grab our hearts and put it aside and look at the evidence.” While she “fought to the end,” she ultimately decided there was not enough proof that Zimmerman killed Martin with intent.
“George Zimmerman got away with murder, but you can’t get away from God. And at the end of the day, he’s going to have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with. [But] the law couldn’t prove it,” said Maddy, a 36-year-old Puerto Rican mother of eight and the only minority on the jury.
After the trial, she recalled, “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?’ ”
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In a statement Thursday, Fulton responded: “It is devastating for my family to hear the comments from juror B29, comments which we already knew in our hearts to be true. That George Zimmerman literally got away with murder. This new information challenges our nation once again to do everything we can to make sure that this never happens to another child. That’s why Tracy [Martin, Trayvon’s father] and I have launched The Trayvon Martin Foundation to try and take something very painful and negative and turn it into something positive as a legacy to our son.”
Zimmerman, 29, a neighborhood watchman in Sanford, Fla., was acquitted of second-degree murder earlier this month in the shooting death of the unarmed Martin, who was 17. The verdict sparked outrage from those who believe race was a factor in Zimmerman’s acquittal, with nationwide protests calling for justice for the black teen and President Obama giving an impromptu press conference, saying: “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.”
The first juror from the six-woman panel to come out of the woodwork was B37, who, without revealing her identity, gave an interview to CNN’s Anderson Cooper last week saying that both Zimmerman and Martin’s actions led to Martin’s fatal shooting in February 2012. However, she said, Zimmerman did not break the law. Her remarks led four other jurors in the trial to issue a letter distancing themselves from her statements.
Watch Robin Roberts’ ABC interview here.
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