A
Twitter user who launched a social media campaign to stop a juror in
the George Zimmerman case from getting a book deal has succeeded in
her effort — within six hours.
On
Monday, Juror B37, one of six female jurors who made the
controversial decision to acquit Zimmerman in the shooting death of
17-year-old Trayvon Martin, told Anderson Cooper that she
had signed with a literary agent to shop a tell-all book about her
experience during the three-week, televised trial.
The agent, Sharlene Martin, told Yahoo News that the juror reached out to her on the advice of a producer from a morning show and that the juror had said she was planning to publish the book anonymously “given the sensitivity of the verdict and the outpouring of mixed reactions by the American public.”
The agent, Sharlene Martin, told Yahoo News that the juror reached out to her on the advice of a producer from a morning show and that the juror had said she was planning to publish the book anonymously “given the sensitivity of the verdict and the outpouring of mixed reactions by the American public.”
Then
came the social media campaign.
Genie
Lauren, whose Twitter handle is @MoreAndAgain, tweeted out the
agent's contact information, urging fellow users to flood the agency
with calls and emails "to stop the book deal from coming to
fruition," Uproxx.com reports.
"Hey,
@sharlenemartin, please drop juror B37," Lauren wrote. "Do
not help the person who let a murderer get away profit from this
tragedy."
"Only
thing I can think to do is flood Sharlene Martin's phone, email, and
snail mail, w/ requests that she drop juror B37," she continued.
Lauren
then launched a Change.org petition asking the agency to drop
the unnamed juror:
After
murdering Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman was acquitted, even though
juror B37 admitted (in a CNN interview) that Zimmerman "went too
far", and didn't "stop at the limitations he should've
stopped at". Now that very juror, who allowed Trayvon Martin's
killer to get away, is writing a book. Please don't allow this person
to profit off of the injustice that they've served to the American
public. We deserve better. Trayvon Martin's family deserves better.
The
petition quickly reached 1,000 signatures, and the Martin Literary
Agency released a statement late Monday: After
careful consideration regarding the proposed book project with
Zimmerman Juror B37, I have decided to rescind my offer of
representation in the exploration of a book based upon this case.
Juror
B37 then announced she was abandoning the book idea:
I
realize it was necessary for our jury to be sequestered in order to
protect our verdict from unfair outside influence, but that isolation
shielded me from the depth of pain that exists among the general
public over every aspect of this case. The potential book was always
intended to be a respectful observation of the trial from my and my
husband’s perspectives solely and it was to be an observation that
our "system" of justice can get so complicated that it
creates a conflict with our "spirit" of justice. Now that I
am returned to my family and to society in general, I have realized
that the best direction for me to go is away from writing any sort of
book and return instead to my life as it was before I was called to
sit on this jury.
Roots'
drummer Questlove applauded Lauren's efforts, tweeting a thank
you note to his 2.6 million followers.
Can
you believe this, not only did this woman let the killer Zimmerman go
free, now she wants to make money from it? Lord have mercy.
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