No Federal Charges Against Zimmerman For Killing Trayvon Martin
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J.J._Evans
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No federal charges for Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin death
The Justice Department said its independent investigation found "insufficient evidence" to charge George Zimmerman with federal civil right violations in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the evidence did not meet the "high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution," but the decision should not end efforts to explore racial tensions in the justice system. The decision closes the federal investigation.
"This young man's premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface," Holder said in a statement. "We, as a nation, must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future."
Zimmerman shot Martin, 17, on Feb. 26, 2012, as the teen walked back to a relative's home after purchasing snacks at a convenience store in Sanford, Fla.
Federal investigators began their investigation following the shooting, but halted it once the state began prosecuting Zimmerman for murder. On July 13, 2013, a Florida jury found Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter, sparking protests in several cities.
The federal investigation resumed after Zimmerman's acquittal in state court. Federal investigators reviewed the evidence generated by Florida's investigation and prosecution, but independently conducted 75 witness interviews and reviewed other encounters Zimmerman had with law enforcement in Florida, the Justice Department said. Federal authorities also retained an independent biomechanical expert who assessed Zimmerman's descriptions of his struggle with Martin and the shooting.
The investigation reviewed events from the moment of their first encounter through the fatal shooting to determine whether Zimmerman approached Martin in a "threatening manner" or used force against him because of his race, the Justice Department said.
"Our decision not to pursue federal charges does not condone the shooting that resulted in the death of Trayvon Martin and is based solely on the high legal standard applicable to these cases," acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division said.
Prosecutors from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, officials from the FBI and the Justice Department's Community Relations Service met Tuesday with Martin's family and their representatives to inform them of the findings of the investigation and the decision, the Justice Department said in a written statement.
The Martin family, in a statement released Tuesday afternoon, said they were "disappointed'' by the decision.
"We remain poised to do everything in our power to help eradicate senseless violence in our communities, because we don't want any other parent to experience the un-explainable loss we have endured,'' the family said, referring to their continuing work with a foundation named for their son.
"We will never, ever forget what happened to our son, Trayvon, and will honor his memory by working tirelessly to make the world a better place."
Daryl Parks, an attorney for the Martin family, told USA TODAY the decision represented an "injustice.''
"Neither one of our systems was able to hold him (Zimmerman) accountable criminally for what he did."
In the weeks after Martin's death, much of the nation was consumed with a racially-charged narrative about a unarmed black teen killed while walking home with a bag of Skittles and iced tea.
George Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman told USA TODAY his sibling did not act based on any racial notions the night of the shooting but shot in self-defense.
Zimmerman's legal representatives could not be immediately reached for comment.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/24/no-federals-charges-against-george-zimmerman/23942297/
Comments
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What the ? he means by we? Anyway the only steps you can take is for the murders to get life in prison then they will think twice. it's insane to think that you can get a different outcome when nothing is being done right by the previous ones
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En-Fuego22 wrote: »What the ? he means by we? Anyway the only steps you can take is for the murders to get life in prison then they will think twice. it's insane to think that you can get a different outcome when nothing is being done right by the previous ones
I would think he's talking about himself as a black man. I give props to Eric Holder because he doesn't really bite his tongue about racial issues like Obama does. -
Why would the prosecution argue a case of a "hate crime" ?
Like seriously the grounds of arguments is making this easy for these racists to win.
Horrible representation for trayvons justice smh they gotta do better -
Not surprised but still......
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I don't think they should have been pursuing s hate crime charge anyway
It was just murder.... To prove a hate crime you need witnesses, written evidence or video tape evidence
Too much
How many times have cases been dismissed for him though? -
Yea you basically gotta be saying ? infront of the camera.. and have explicit racial intentions no surprises nothing to raise hell about ..
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Black people been know how to stop this.
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Yet, they won't. And what's more, they look at this Zimmerbitch dude as some sort of maniac when he ain't nothing more than a chump with a gun in his hand.Black people been know how to stop this.
Florida stay losin. -
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playmaker88 wrote: »Yea you basically gotta be saying ? infront of the camera.. and have explicit racial intentions no surprises nothing to raise hell about ..
Yeah as much as I think Zimmerman should be locked up, it was always gonna be a stretch to have him charged with a hate crime. We can't prove he was racist, although we can prove he's an idiot and a lose cannon. He'll get his one day, one way or the other.
