Martin/Zimmerman Case Could Lead To Lawsuit
The acquittal of George Zimmerman, the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer cleared of state charges in the death of black teenager Trayvon Martin, spurred new calls for a federal civil rights prosecution and suggestions the youth’s family may bring a lawsuit.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is pushing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to pursue a hate crimes case against Zimmerman, its head said today on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. A Martin family lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said Martin’s parents would investigate filing a lawsuit outside Sanford, Florida, where the criminal trial was held.
“There is reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why he targeted young Trayvon” Ben Jealous, the NAACP president, said. “We know there will be a state phase, there will be a civil phase almost assuredly, and then there will be a civil rights phase,” he said.
The Justice Department today reiterated a March 19, 2012, statement that it was investigating the “facts and circumstances” surrounding the shooting, and would take “appropriate action” at its probe’s conclusion.
“Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate in accordance with the department’s policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial,” the department said in an e-mailed statement.
In a wrongful death action against Zimmerman, Martin’s family would need to show he was culpable only by a preponderance of the evidence, according to Peter Grenier, a personal injury lawyer at Bode & Grenier LLP in Washington. The criminal case and acquittal, decided on the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt, would be irrelevant to the civil suit under Florida law, Grenier said.
Anger over the verdict in a case that has drawn national attention for its implications involving race and guns was confined today mostly to statements and threats of further litigation against Zimmerman, 29, described by prosecutors as a police-officer wannabe. Scattered protests occurred in cities including San Francisco, New York and Chicago.