The media are reporting that a juror says Zimmerman is guilty of murder. That’s not true.
William Saletan
Slate
7/26/2013
Did George Zimmerman get away with murder? That’s what one of his jurors says, according to headlines in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other newspapers. Trayvon Martin’s mother and the Martin family’s attorney are trumpeting this “new information” as proof that “George Zimmerman literally got away with murder.”
The reports are based on an ABC News interview with Juror B29, the sole nonwhite juror. She has identified herself only by her first name, Maddy. She’s been framed as the woman who was bullied out of voting to convict Zimmerman. But that’s not true. She stands by the verdict. She yielded to the evidence and the law, not to bullying. She thinks Zimmerman was morally culpable but not legally guilty. And she wants us to distinguish between this trial and larger questions of race and justice.
ABC News hasn’t posted a full unedited video or transcript of the interview. The video that has been broadcast—on World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America—has been cut and spliced in different ways, often so artfully that the transitions appear continuous. So beware what you’re seeing. But the video that’s available already shows, on closer inspection, that Maddy has been manipulated and misrepresented. Here are the key points…
The article continues at Slate.
Update: The Obama Media Pool Lacks Racial Depth
Update 2: Jesse Jackson Wants a Boycott of Florida… But Smoking Cigars With Castro in Cuba Was OK
…Jesse Jackson wants a boycott of Florida over the Zimmerman decision…
Read the whole thing.
Also, ABC News Must Release Full, Unedited Interview With Zimmerman Juror
