Juror says George Zimmerman 'got away with murder'

Another juror who acquitted George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin is speaking out, saying her first vote was second-degree murder. The comments come as the federal government continues to consider bringing civil-rights charges against the former neighborhood-watch volunteer.  

Juror B29, who was identified by ABC News only as "Maddy," told the network in an exclusive interview that she "fought to the end" before ultimately coming to the conclusion that there was not enough evidence to convict Zimmerman.

"I was the juror that was going to give them the hung jury," she told ABC News.

The all-female jury acquitted Zimmerman in the slaying of the unarmed 17-year-old Martin, who was shot and killed during a confrontation that spawned national debate about self-defense laws in Florida and other states.

Juror B29 is a 36-year-old Puerto Rican woman with eight children who works as a nursing assistant and was selected to the jury just five months after she moved to Florida from Chicago, ABC News reported.

But despite the verdict, Juror B29 said she said she felt "forcefully included in Trayvon Martin’s death."

"I'm hurting as much [as] Trayvon Martin's mother because there's no way that any mother should feel that pain," she said, later adding "You can't put the man in jail even though in our hearts we felt he was guilty. But we had to grab our hearts and put it aside and look at the evidence."

Juror B29’s comments come weeks after another woman, Juror B37, spoke to CNN, telling the network she believed Zimmerman was "a man whose heart was in the right place."

"But I think his heart was in the right place. It just went terribly wrong," Juror B37 told CNN earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, spoke at the National Urban League’s annual conference in Philadelphia on Friday. She told the audience that she believes God is using her and her family to make a difference and using her story, tragedy and broken heart to stop the same thing from happening to another child.

Juror B29 also alluded to a higher power when speaking about the ultimate verdict.

"Look, George Zimmerman got away with murder. But you can’t get away from God. And at the end of the day, he’s gonna have a lot of questions and answers he has to deal with. The law couldn’t prove it. But, you know — you know, the world goes in circles," she said. 

Source: Al Jazeera and wire services