The NAACP and others are looking to feds to bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman .
No Sleep Until There ’ s Justice for Trayvon
The NAACP and others are looking to feds to bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman .
By : Janell Ross Guest Columnist
At 4 a . m . Sunday , when some of the nation ’ s major news organizations and conservative blogs remained on vigilant lookout for riots in the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict , a group of almost 200 people gathered in public spaces and private homes all over the country . Civil rights and social-justice activists down South , strategists on the East Coast and grassroots organizers out West came together for a hastily organized conference call . A single idea was already taking shape . If Million Hoody marches in New York ; Sanford , Fla .; Miami and dozens of
Justice for Trayvon Martin Janell Ross Orlando , Florida July 2013
other communities had helped to push the state of Florida to arrest , charge and try George Zimmerman , couldn ’ t those same forces be peacefully mobilized again to demand that the federal government bring criminal civil rights charges against Zimmerman ?
The federal government — the only entity above the possible blanket civil and criminal immunity that Zimmerman may be able to secure in state court — could investigate and file federal civil rights charges against Zimmerman . Before sunrise , more than 200,000 people had actually co-signed on the idea , attaching their names to an NAACP online petition . So many people visited the NAACP ’ s website that some time early Sunday morning , the organization ’ s server temporarily crashed .
“ It ’ s important for people to understand at this time , that this is not over ,” said Benjamin Todd Jealous , the NAACP ’ s president and chief executive officer . “ The justice system still has more plays to make .” Justice Department officials released a statement Sunday afternoon confirming that federal staff will continue a probe into Zimmerman ’ s actions and the ideas that may have motivated him the night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin . And Jealous , a lawyer and longtime Washington operative , said Sunday he spoke directly with a senior official inside the Justice Department just after the verdict .
“ The short of it ?” Jealous said about the conversation with an official he would not identify . “ They said they are looking into it , seriously , and that it may take a long time .” Jealous described any effort to guess at the likelihood of federal charges as inappropriate and premature .
Early criticism — coming primarily from the right — of the call for federal intervention amounts to nothing more than “ cynical ” attempts to discount the magnitude of the injustice doled out in a Florida state courtroom this weekend , Jealous said . “ I think most people of good sense , people of all races , know that in this country a hoody and dark skin are not reasonable grounds for suspicion ,” he said .
A woman marches at a protest in New York City a day after the Zimmerman verdict . ( Stan Honda / AFP / Getty Images )
Zimmerman — a one-time mortgage-industry worker and neighborhood-watch volunteer who first described Trayvon as a black guy “ up to no good ” when he spotted the 17-year-old strolling through the gated community where Zimmerman lived — walked out of Florida state court a free man Saturday . Florida tried and failed to convict him on second-degree-murder or manslaughter charges and cannot attempt to do so again , said Tamara Lave , a professor at the University of Miami ’ s law school and a former public defender .
And even as calls for Trayvon ’ s family to file a civil wrongful death suit against Zimmerman mount , that , too , seems like an unlikely option for any sort of redress , Lave said . The state ’ s now notorious “ Stand your ground ” law allows individuals to request a hearing in state court , and if they can prove that their actions were lawful and covered by the “ no duty to retreat from danger ” clause in “ Stand your ground ,” then a court can grant the individual blanket immunity from civil and criminal charges .
Zimmerman did not request immunity when facing criminal charges . In a civil suit , he could and very likely would do so to protect any assets he may have , including cash donated to him by supporters , Lave said . “ If that happened , and it is extremely likely that it would , given that he has just been acquitted , no one can bring a civil case against him , not even Trayvon Martin ’ s parents ,” Lave said .
Federal criminal court — hate-crimes charges or allegations that Zimmerman violated Trayvon ’ s civil rights — may be the family ’ s only hope for any kind of redress , she said . But such a case won ’ t be easy . Federal prosecutors will have to rely on some of the same evidence and what Lave called the “ shoddy ” early investigation conducted by Sanford police that hamstrung the state prosecutors . And unlike civil court , federal criminal prosecutions require the government to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt . Zimmerman would also have a right to a federal jury trial and the option not to testify in court . The federal government can ’ t bring charges simply because of public pressure , she said . see TRAYVON page 4