Media-hating juror B37 from the George Zimmerman trial spoke with Anderson Cooper on Monday night. Among other things, the juror explained to Cooper how she believes that Zimmerman's “heart was in the right place,” and how she “did not think race played a role” in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

[There was a video here]

"I think George Zimmerman is a man whose heart was in the right place, but just got displaced by the vandalism in the neighborhoods and wanting to catch these people so badly that he went above and beyond what he really should have done," she told Cooper. "But I think his heart was in the right place. It just went terribly wrong."

She also said she believed Martin threw the first punch. "I think the roles changed. I think George got in a little bit too deep, which he shouldn't have been there. But Trayvon decided that he wasn't going to let him scare him ... and I think Trayvon got mad and attacked him," she said, adding that she had “no doubt” Zimmerman feared for his life. "He had a right to defend himself," she said.

The juror said she found the testimony of Rachel Jeantel unconvincing, in part because of what she perceived as Jeantel's poor education and “her [lack of] communication skills." When Cooper asked if the juror had trouble understanding Jeantel, she said, “A lot of the time. Because she was using phrases I had never heard before, and what they meant."

And there's her opinion on how the situation could have been avoided: “It's a tragedy this happened, but it happened. And I think both were responsible for the situation they had gotten themselves into. I think both of them could have walked away. It just didn't happen.”

If there's some good news to come from the interview, it's this: because of widespread backlash, the juror will no longer seek a deal to write a book about the trial.

[There was a video here]