B29, a juror in the trial of George Zimmerman, who killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, has come forward to say he “got away with murder”.
But the 36-year-old, named as Maddy in an ABC News’ Good Morning America interview, said they could not find him guilty based on the law.
The only non-white member of the six-woman jury, Maddy suggested the trial had been little more than a sham.
Florida neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was cleared after shooting dead 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in February 2012.
There were nationwide protests following his acquittal of murder and manslaughter charges earlier this month. George Zimmerman claimed self-defense.
Maddy, a nursing assistant and a mother of eight who had recently moved from Illinois to Florida, said she feels she owes an apology to Trayvon Martin’s parents.
“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 told Good Morning America programme.
But she said that based on instructions from the judge, she could not convict George Zimmerman under Florida law.
“That’s where I felt confused, where if a person kills someone, then you get charged for it,” Maddy said.
“But as the law was read to me, if you have no proof that he killed him intentionally, you can’t say he’s guilty.”
Known as Juror B29, she said she initially voted to convict 29-year-old George Zimmerman of second-degree murder, but changed her mind after nine hours of discussing evidence on the second day of deliberations.
“I was the juror that was going to give them the hung jury,” she said.
“I fought to the end.”
Maddy, who is of Puerto Rican background, said the trial was “a publicity stunt”, because she believes Florida laws provided no opportunity to convict. But she said George Zimmerman will still be judged.
“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.”
Earlier this month, another juror – known only as B37 – told broadcaster CNN that she believed George Zimmerman had good intentions, but events “just went terribly wrong”.
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