For the first time since George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in the death of their son Trayvon Martin's parents spoke about the verdict while making the round on the morning talk shows, according to USA Today.
In an interview on "CBS This Morning" Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said that she was "stunned absolutely" when the jury came back with a verdict of not guilty last Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"I thought surely that he [Zimmerman] would be found guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter at the least," Fulton said. "But I just knew that they would see that this was a teenager just trying to get home. This was no burglar. This was somebody's son that was trying to get home."
On NBC's "Today" show Tracy Martin, Trayvon's father, was similarly surprised by the verdict.
"We felt in our hearts that we were going to get a conviction," Tracy said. "We felt that the killer of our unarmed child was going to be convicted of the crime he committed."
When discussing the Zimmerman case the subject of race often comes up as the prosecution attempted to make the case that Martin was racially profiled when Zimmerman chose to track him through the neighborhood. In wake of the verdict many have protested that race played a role in the jury's decision and the Justice Department is considering looking into whether or not they can build a civil rights case.
On "Today" Tracy said that he believed that race had played a role in his son's death.
"Obviously, any time you have a person that makes an assumption that a person is up to no good, there is some type of profiling," Tracy said. "Was he racially profiled? I think that if Trayvon had been white, this wouldn't have ever happened. Obviously race is playing some type of role."
In an interview with CNN one of the jurors, known only as Juror B37 for now, said that the jury did not think that race played any role in Martin's death.
"I don't think it did," Juror B37 said. "I think if there was another person, Spanish, white, Asian, if they came in the same situation where Trayvon was, I think George would have reacted the exact same way."
Fulton also commented on the demonstrations that have been taking place since the verdict that was announced saying that she wants them to be peaceful, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"They have a right to be heard, but we want to make sure that it's peaceful, that nobody gets hurt, that nobody gets arrested," Fulton said.
Tracy Martin was asked if it would be possible for him to forgive Zimmerman.
"Forgiveness is like a healing process," Tracy said. "Forgiveness takes time. The Bible says that you have to forgive and forget, but also the healing process is a long process and the forgiving process is a long process."
