Perhaps we should have all seen this coming, but, as indicated by many of the events that took place this past weekend, foresight lacks sometimes. According to ABC News, one of the jurors in George Zimmerman's trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin is wasting no time cashing in on the part they played in the major case—and just two days after finding Zimmerman not guilty on counts of manslaughter and second-degree murder, have signed with a "with a prominent literary agent" as preamble to a book deal.
The former juror—who is known to be female, but whose identity has been sealed by the courts—and her attorney husband reportedly reached out to Martin Literary Management on July 14th, a day after the controversial verdict was read. The book, which she is currently working on a proposal for, is expected to follow the juror's experience working on the case, and explain to the reader "why the jurors had no option but to find Zimmerman not guilty due to the manner in which he was charged."
So, who is this woman? Not much is really known about her, other than that she's married to an attorney, has worked for a chiropractor for 16 years, is the mother of two adult women, and that she's about to make a shitload of money off of her unexpected roles in one of the biggest cases concerning racial equality and gun control in modern history. She's still only known as juror B37, and it's not known whether or not her real identity will ever be revealed—for the sake of her safety, it probably shouldn't.
More information can be revealed through viewing her voir dire: In it, she reveals that she used to have a concealed weapons permit herself, but let it expire, and that her husband still carries one. She also hates the media—"Newspapers are used in the parrot's cage. Not even read...it's been so long since I even read one. The only time I see em is when I'm putting them down on the floor,"—she got all her information about the case from the Today show, she believed that there were riots in Sanford after Trayvon's death (there weren't), and when asked to describe Trayvon, she says: "He was a boy of color."
There's something terribly uncomfortable about exploiting this case for monetary gain, but that's still not going to stop this woman from being very, very rich soon.
Something to consider, too: In May 1995, during O.J. Simpson's trial for the death of Nicole Brown Simpson, an ex-juror, Michael Knox, sought to write a book (The Private Diary of an O.J. Juror) about his experience serving on the trial. A judge in LA ruled that he was able to because he was dismissed from the jury seven months before a verdict was eventually settled on. Other jurors—or anyone else involved with the case—would have to wait until at least 90 days after the case was closed to disclose any information about the trial for monetary gain, per a state law that makes it a crime. Since the juror was released early, in this case he was able to release his book in June 1995, four months before the case actually ended, because the judge ruled that prohibiting it would infringe upon his first amendment rights. It's not too clear if Florida has a similar law—in short, it's a different world down there—but the first amendment bit still applies. It's slimy, but juror B37 is within her rights to publish as many books as she wants about the trial.
You can check out juror B37's full voir dire below.
