Author Topic: Obama Admn moving forward on Zimm investigation into civil rights case. FUBO!!!!  (Read 769 times)

Soul Crusher

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MIAMI -- The Justice Department will sift through trial testimony, interviews and other evidence during what is likely to be a months-long investigation into whether George Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin's civil rights when he shot the black teenager.

The key to charging Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watch volunteer, lies in whether evidence exists that he was motivated by racial animosity to kill Martin, who was 17 when he was shot during a fight with Zimmerman in February 2012. And while Martin's family has said the teen was racially profiled, no evidence surfaced during the state trial that Zimmerman had a racial bias.

Former Miami federal prosecutor David S. Weinstein says it will likely be months before a decision is made on whether to bring charges.

Zimmerman, 29, was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges after claiming he fired his weapon in self-defense only after Martin attacked him. No evidence surfaced in the trial that Zimmerman had a racial bias, and his friends and family have repeatedly denied he harbored racial animosity toward blacks. Florida did not use its own hate crime laws against Zimmerman.

Legal experts say the FBI and prosecutors will go back through the interviews done before the state case began; look at all the forensics such as crime scene records and medical reports; and review the state's witnesses to see if any who did not testify might have important information.

However, investigators are not limited to existing evidence; they can pursue new evidence and conduct new interviews as they see fit. For instance, federal investigators could look more closely at Zimmerman's past for any evidence of racial bias.

"They are going to need to do a thorough vetting of the facts. It takes time," said Lauren Resnick, a former prosecutor who obtained a guilty verdict in a 1991 New York hate crime case involving the stabbing death of an Orthodox Jew. Those defendants had been acquitted in state court.

The lone juror in the case who has spoken publicly – known only as Juror B37 because their identities have not been released – said Monday that she did not believe Zimmerman followed Martin because the teen was black.

Still, supporters of the Justice Department filing civil rights charges say additional evidence could exist in the federal investigation that didn't come up in the state prosecution of Zimmerman, possibly even witnesses who have not previously been interviewed or did not come up in the state case.




"They have a separate set of evidence they're looking at," said Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "They might have additional witnesses that were never called upon by the state. I think they will make the best decision that is possible in this case and they will pursue what they think is legally possible."

Several civil rights groups, including the NAACP, are demanding that the Justice Department bring federal charges against Zimmerman, and there have been numerous protests around the country about the outcome of the Florida trial.

During a news conference Tuesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton acknowledged there are hurdles. But he said there remains a fundamental question of "does Trayvon Martin and the Trayvon Martins of this country have the civil right to go home?"

He added: "... we have some experience on how to deal with hurdles and we see that as part of our strategy."

Beyond the exact language of the law itself, the federal probe must navigate between sensitive racial and political issues that arose when Zimmerman initially wasn't charged in Martin's killing.

"Many people simply cannot process how an unarmed teenager is killed, and yet no one is held criminally accountable for his death," said Marcellus McRae, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.

Resnick said a federal jury would have to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman had a racial motive when he began following Martin and that he did not act in self-defense when he fired his gun.

"There remains the serious challenge that prosecutors still have to prove the racial motive," she said.

Zimmerman could get life in prison if charged and convicted under federal hate crime laws.

Generally, the Justice Department is reluctant to get involved in cases that have already been tried before a state jury, in part because of concerns about double jeopardy.

Perhaps the best-known example where federal prosecutors did intervene was the case of four police officers acquitted after a California state trial in the beating of motorist Rodney King, which triggered deadly riots in the Los Angeles area in 1992.

Two of the four officers were convicted in federal court of violating King's rights, but that case differs from Zimmerman's because they were acting as sworn law enforcement officials, not as a private citizen claiming self-defense.

In contrast, the Justice Department declined to prosecute New York Police Department officers after they were acquitted in the 2006 shootings of three men including Sean Bell, who was fatally wounded the morning of his planned wedding. The short Justice Department statement – issued in 2010, four years after the shooting – simply said there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

"Neither accident, mistake, fear, negligence nor bad judgment is sufficient to establish a federal criminal civil rights violation," the department said in the Bell case.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a speech Monday that the Justice Department probe will "continue to act in a manner that is consistent with the facts and the law." He made no mention of race, gave no timetable for completion of the investigation.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Schneider in Orlando and Shaquille Brewster in Washington contributed to this story.

___

Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt

Soul Crusher

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Soul Crusher

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225for70

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what would be the purpose for the justice department to continue this?

Skip8282

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This shit is just for show.

My prediction is about 90% chance they'll go after him.

And then Holder will pull an Angela Corey and claim that they only did it to get the facts out to the public.  ::)


Roger Bacon

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MIAMI -- The Justice Department will sift through trial testimony, interviews and other evidence during what is likely to be a months-long investigation into whether George Zimmerman violated Trayvon Martin's civil rights when he shot the black teenager.


Hope this is the straw that breaks the criminal Obama admin's back.

240 is Back

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we knew holder/obama were criminals, pandering years ago. 

yall didn't want to impeach.  "let issa destroy them".  Guess what... it didn't work.

Fury

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we knew holder/obama were criminals, pandering years ago. 

yall didn't want to impeach.  "let issa destroy them".  Guess what... it didn't work.

Remember when you voted for Obama after trying to jump on the Ron Paul wagon (only to be called out on the fact that you couldn't even be bothered to skip McDonald's to vote for him in your primary)?

Rhino

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Even O'bama can't simmer the zimmer. It's become a witch hunt. Fat Skinny Zimmy is going to end up becoming a folk hero. :/ Watch O'bama send in the drones and just be done with it. I wouldn't put it past him :(
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225for70

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Even O'bama can't simmer the zimmer. It's become a witch hunt. Fat Skinny Zimmy is going to end up becoming a folk hero. :/ Watch O'bama send in the drones and just be done with it. I wouldn't put it past him :(

Zimmerman is just plain fat now...

Soul Crusher

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The Color of Crime: Race, Crime and Justice in America
 
Major Findings
 
There is more black-on-white than black-on-black violent crime.
 
Of the approximately 1,700,000 interracial crimes of violence involving
blacks and whites, 90 percent are committed by blacks against whites.
 
Blacks are therefore up to 250 times more likely to do criminal violence to whites than the reverse.
 
Blacks commit violent crimes at four to eight times the white rate.
 
Hispanics commit violent crimes at approximately three times the white rate,
and Asians at one half to three quarters the white rate.
 
Blacks are twice as likely as whites to commit hate crimes.
Hispanics are a hate crime victim category but not a perpetrator category.
 
Hispanic offenders are classified as whites, which inflates the white
offense rate and gives the impression that Hispanics commit no hate crimes.
 
Blacks are as much more dangerous than whites as men are more
dangerous than women.

Soul Crusher

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EXCLUSIVE: Robert Zimmerman to DOJ: Stop the 'Witch Hunt'
Breitbart ^  | 7-16-2013 | Ben Shapiro

Posted on Wednesday, July 17, 2013 8:40:30 AM by Raebie

On Tuesday evening, Robert Zimmerman, brother of George Zimmerman, responded to reports that Eric Holder’s Department of Justice had solicited the public for information about George that could help a federal civil rights prosecution. The DOJ has even set up an email address for tips on Zimmerman. In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Robert labeled the effort a “witch hunt,” asking, “How many other individuals has the DOJ witch-hunted in this way? I think that the state of FL when they embarked on their malicious prosecution of George would have liked nothing more than for he FBI to uncover any sign of racism that could be attributed to George. The FBI interviewed three dozen people who were close to George for any indication that George was a racist or had racist tendencies. What their investigation revealed thus far is that quite the opposite is true. “Political persecution has reached a dimension unforeseen by many,” Robert Zimmerman continued. “It is inconceivable that high-ranking officials would endorse this kind of behavior. It is profoundly disserving that they facilitate it. I would remind the Department of Justice that a verdict has been reached in this case, and that the reputation of Sanford, Florida and the trust of the people of Sanford, Florida in regards to their law enforcement agencies is more important than continuing politically motivated and race-tinged assaults on an innocent man’s character.”


(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...

Rhino

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I heard that Zimmerman drove around in that Orange Dukes Of Hazard car like they had in the show. He liked the car so much that he bought it at an auction. Meanwhile... he would cruise the town for prey. Shame!
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