Page 43 - State Trial News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> we the jury find george zimmerman not guilty. >> reporter: in response to the verdict and calls for action, the justice department released this statement, reading in part, that the department of justice will continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial. federal prosecutors will then determine if trayvon martin's civil rights were violated and if federal prosecution of george zimmerman is appropriate. if zimmerman is charged with violating trayvon martin's civil rights, it wouldn't be the first time ...

Where we find athena jones. organizers there demanding the federal government prosecute george zimmerman on civil rights violations. that's the mantra across the country at many of these demonstrations, but are people talking about the likelihood of that happening there in washington? >> reporter: hi, fredricka. that's right. if you talk to legal experts, they say there's a very high bar for the federal government to bring civil rights charges in this case. they'd have to show that george zimmerman acted out of a sense of racial hatred or animus when he shot trayvon martin and they've been dow...

Happens, because of that change in the law, the justice department can now decide and is now deciding if it wants to bring a federal civil rights case, likely a hate crimes case, to try to convict george zimmerman, even though that jury and that florida state court found him not guilty. the justice department has put out a statement saying "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 depa...

Bring a federal civil rights case, likely a hate crimes case, to try to convict george zimmerman, even though that jury in that florida state court found him not guilty. the justice department has put out a statement saying "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 department's policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial." successive federal prosecution afte...

Standard. we have to show there was specific intent to do the crime with the requisite state of mind. >> neither prosecutors or the defense made race the central issue in the state's case against george zimmerman. but civil rights leaders call the killing of trayvon martin a hate crime. they say zimmerman racially profiled martin, something zimmerman and his family have denied. >> you look at a jury without a black and without a man on it, if it was a jury of trayvon's peers, the department of jus dismust intervene and take this case to another level. >> we the jury find george zimmerman not g...