http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-usa-florida-shooting-idUSBRE86B1AD20120712
(Reuters) - FBI interviews with dozens of friends, coworkers and neighbors of George Zimmerman found no evidence that the accused murderer of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was a racist, according to new documents released on Thursday.
Here's another interesting article.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/2013/07/15/civil-rights-case-zimmerman-won-simple/u4NNXk5VRdpQMPZIB5R23M/story-1.html
Civil rights case vs. Zimmerman won't be simple
The department says it’s reviewing evidence to determine whether criminal civil rights charges are warranted, but legal experts see major barriers to a federal prosecution — including the burden of proving that Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch leader, was motivated by racial animosity — and say Justice officials would likely be saddled with some of the same challenges that complicated the unsuccessful state case.
‘‘The Justice Department would face significant challenges in bringing a federal civil rights case against Mr. Zimmerman,’’ said Alan Vinegrad, the former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. ‘‘There are several factual and legal hurdles that federal prosecutors would have to overcome: They'd have to show not only that the attack was unjustified, but that Mr. Zimmerman attacked Mr. Martin because of his race and because he was using a public facility, the street.’
In this case, federal prosecutors pursuing a civil rights case would need to establish, among other things, that Zimmerman was motivated by racial animosity, even though race was barely mentioned at the state trial.
Lauren Resnick, a former federal prosecutor in New York who secured a conviction in the killing of an Orthodox Jew during the 1991 Crown Heights riots in Brooklyn, said the Justice Department could conceivably proceed under a theory that Zimmerman interfered with Martin’s right to walk down a public street based on his race. But even that is difficult since the conflict occurred in a gated community, which may not fit the legal definition of a public facility. Prosecutors would also probably need to prove that trailing Martin on the street constituted interference, she said.
Samuel Bagenstos, a former No. 2 official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said: ‘‘This is an administration that hasn’t shied away from bringing hate crimes cases that are solid prosecutions based on the facts and the law, but from what I've seen this would be a very difficult case to prosecute federally because the government would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman acted because of Trayvon Martin’s race. If you’re trying to prove racial motivation, you are usually looking for multiple statements related to why he is engaging in this act of violence. I think it’s a difficult case to prove.’’
IMO, the DoJ will investigate for a few months and then say that they don't have the evidence of either a hate crime or a racially motivated crime to sustain a civil rights indictment and they'll drop it.
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