George Zimmerman trial juror signs with literary agent

Over the weekend, while thousands of people in various cities across the United States were protesting the George Zimmerman trial verdict, one of the six jurors in the trial was apparently quite busy on the phone—with a literary agent.

The not guilty verdict in the shooting of Trayvon Martin came on Saturday evening. And on Monday morning, the woman known as “Juror B37,” and the juror’s husband, had signed an agreement to be represented by the Los Angeles-based Martin Literary Management agency, as announced by the agency’s president, Sharlene Martin.

“My hope is that people will read Juror B37’s book, written with her attorney husband, and understand the commitment it takes to serve and be sequestered on a jury in a highly publicized murder trial and how important, despite one’s personal viewpoints, it is to follow the letter of the law,” Martin said in a statement. “The reader will also learn why the jurors had no option but to find Zimmerman Not Guilty due to the manner in which he was charged and the content of the jury instructions.”

Anyone who’s ever tried to reach a literary agent over the weekend will question the timing of said announcement, which came less than 36 hours after the jury found Zimmerman not guilty of all counts. Is it possible that Juror B37, or her husband, was in contact with the agency before the six-woman jury even began to deliberate? And might a desire to transform her experience as a juror into a marketable story have influenced B37’s view of the case?

Galleycat reports that Martin has represented other clients in the media spotlight, including Raffaele Sollecito, who was charged with murder in Italy alongside his then-girlfriend, Amanda Knox; and Jessica Buchanan, who was kidnapped by Somali pirates and rescued by SEAL Team Six.

Martin said the juror has chosen to remain annonymous and ”it is not known whether they will participate in any media at this time or decide to reveal their identities given the sensitivity of the verdict and the outpouring of mixed reactions by the American public.”

In the voir dire phase of the trial, Juror B37 said she was a mother of two, once had a concealed weapon permit, and that she had a disdain for the media because “newspapers are just not truthful.” She also said she owned “three dogs, four cats, a parrot, a crow with one wing, and two lizards.”

Last month, while the trial was still underway, George Zimmerman’s father released a self-published book that took up the issue of racism in his son’s trial.

hector.tobar@latimes.com

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