Did racism skew the Zimmerman jury verdict?

One of the six jurors in the Trayvon Martin case, identified only as juror B37, has come forward to explain George Zimmerman’s acquittal. Her account, presented on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 over the last two nights and in a statement today, clarifies many things. Some of her revelations are shocking. Many are illuminating. Here’s what we can learn from them so far.

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1. She’s one of the most pro-Zimmerman jurors. Bear this in mind before you impute her views to others. She told Cooper the jury’s initial vote was one for second-degree murder, two for manslaughter, and three for acquittal. She was in the acquittal camp. Nearly everything she told Cooper matched what the defense had argued. Four of the other five jurors have issued a statement warning, “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.” Also see Dahlia Lithwick’s thorough examination of this juror’s peculiarities. …

5. She thinks Martin started the fight. Nobody but Martin and Zimmerman saw this part of the incident, so it requires inference and speculation. When Cooper asked whether Martin threw the first punch, she said yes. “Trayvon decided that he wasn’t going to let [Zimmerman] scare him and get the one-over-up on him, or something. And I think Trayvon got mad and attacked him.” She assigned much of the blame to Martin: “He played a huge role in his death … when George confronted him, and he could have walked away and gone home. He didn’t have to do whatever he did and come back and be in a fight.” Come back indicates that she thinks Martin wasn’t cornered. She thinks he chose the altercation. She told Cooper that she thought the other jurors felt that way, too. But she doesn’t know.

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