Civil rights charges against Zimmerman would be difficult, Justice officials say

[cali]

This shouldn't surprise anyone. the odds of Justice charging Zimmerman with violating the civil rights of Trayvon Martin are vanishingly small.

Current and former Justice Department officials said Monday that bringing civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old in Florida, would be extremely difficult and may not be possible.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. vowed to continue a federal investigation of the matter, but other officials said in interviews that the government may not be able to charge Zimmerman with a federal hate crime because it’s not clear that he killed Martin because of his race.

The weakness of the evidence compounds the political problems facing President Obama and Holder, who are under mounting pressure from many liberal and African American groups to bring a federal case against Zimmerman after a Florida jury acquitted him Saturday of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

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“The Department of Justice wouldn’t bring this case unless they believe they could prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin because of his race,” said Rachel Harmon, a law professor at the University of Virginia and a former prosecutor in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.

“It’s not enough to show that Zimmerman followed Trayvon Martin because of his race,” Harmon added. “They are going to have to show that he attacked Martin for that reason. .?.?. That’s why it’s hard to bring hate crimes in general and likely to be hard to bring them in this case.”

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/civil-rights-charges-against-zimmerman-would-be-difficult-justice-officials-say/2013/07/15/d02c1212-ed67-11e2-bed3-b9b6fe264871_story.html

[Bjorn Against]

1. I agree that civil rights charges against Zimmerman are unlikely

Don't get me wrong if they had a case against him I would absolutely want them to take it, but civil rights charges are extremely difficult to prove. I wish that were not the case because I want Zimmerman to be prosecuted, but I have to admit I don't see much of a chance we will see civil rights charges filed. The Justice Department can take action against the State of Florida however to ensure they protect minorities and follow proper proceedures in investigating shootings. Justice Department actions against the State of Florida could go a long ways towards preventing future injustices.