A Zimmerman Trial Juror Has Already Signed a Book Deal

Less than 48 hours have passed since a Florida jury of six women acquitted George Zimmerman for the death of Trayvon Martin. In that time, a juror who still wishes to remain anonymous in the media has already signed a deal and will be writing a book about her experience.

Less than 48 hours have passed since a Florida jury of six women acquitted George Zimmerman of all charges in the death of Trayvon Martin. In that time, a juror who still wishes to remain anonymous in the media has already signed a deal to write a book about her experience.

The financial arrangements of juror B37's deal with Martin Literary Management have yet to be revealed, but Martin Management president Sharlene Martin told Mediabistro's Galley Cat blog that the focus of the book will explain how B37 came to the decision to find Zimmerman not guilty:

 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.

It will surely seem to some that this juror is trying to have it both ways, remaining anonymous as fury over the verdict rages while, at the same time, trying to make money off her having been on that jury — all while not having to explain (at least not yet) how she and her five fellow female jurors came to clear Zimmerman of charges that included second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Jurors writing about their experiences isn't illegal, though some may consider it not-entirely-ethical. The practice was questioned during the O.J. Simpson trial, but we eventually saw the publication of Michael Knox's The Private Diary of an O.J. Juror: Behind the Scenes of the Trial of the Century. Curiously enough, Martin Literary Management's also represents Shanna Hogan, a crime writer who wrote about the most attention-grabbing criminal case to precede that of Zimmerman: the Jodi Arias trial. The agency's most successful book deal of late has been Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six, which was eventually published by a division of Simon & Schuster and will be turned into a movie. That suggests that there's a possibility B37 could really make money off this book.

For now, we do know a few things about B37 from her jury selection. She called the protests and demands for Zimmerman's arrest in Sanford "rioting,"  at one point had a concealed carry permit, and used newspapers to line the cage of her parrot: