The face of justice served.
Dozens of protests, both large and small, reverberated across the nation from New York City to Chicago to Oakland over the weekend in protest of the jury's acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. In spite of Newt Gingrich's idiotically racist
claim that protesters were prepared to "be a lynch mob," with minor exceptions there was no violence.
Not all the protests took place in the streets. At Manhattan's Middle Collegiate Church Sunday, many in the congregation wore hooded sweatshirts in remembrance of Martin who was wearing one when Zimmerman put a bullet in his heart in February 2012:
Hoodie-clad Jessica Nacinovich said she could only feel disappointment and sadness over the verdict.
"I'm sure jurors did what they felt was right in accordance with the law but maybe the law is wrong, maybe society is wrong; there's a lot that needs fixing," she said.
Many protesters spoke in favor of a more immediate "fix," civil cases against Zimmerman and a Justice Department civil rights case, the same thing the NAACP's Ben Jealous announced over the weekend from Orlando, Florida, where the 104-year-old organization was holding its annual convention, just up the road a short piece from Sanford where the Zimmerman trial came to an end Saturday night.
Please continue reading below the fold about possible lawsuits.
A statement from the NAACP said:
"We are outraged and heartbroken over today's verdict. We will pursue civil rights charges with the Department of Justice, we will continue to fight for the removal of stand-your-ground laws in every state, and we will not rest until racial profiling in all its forms is outlawed."
In an interview with CNN Sunday, Jealous
said:
"The reality is in these types of cases where there are very serious questions, we know there will be a state phase, there will be a civil phase almost assuredly and then there will be a federal civil rights phase."
Explaining his outrage, Jealous said: "We're upset with a situation in this country where as black people, as black parents, it feels so off that our young people have to fear the bad guys and the good guys, the robbers and the cops and the self-appointed community watch volunteers who think they're keeping folks safer," he said. [...]
"When you look at his comments and when you look at comments made by young black men who lived in that neighbourhood about how they felt especially targeted by him, there is reason to be concerned that race was a factor in why he targeted young Trayvon," Jealous said.
The Department of Justice
issued a statement:
"The Department of Justice's Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial. 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 of Justice may face an uphill climb with a civil rights case, however. Last year, the FBI
found no evidence of racial animus in the case after interviewing more than 30 witnesses.
As far as civil lawsuits go, there have been a number of high-profile cases, the actor Robert Blake, for instance, in which someone who had been acquitted of murder was found liable for the death they caused.
But Zimmerman's defense attorney Mark O'Mara said over the weekend that if civil lawsuits are filed, he may seek immunity for his client with a "stand your ground" hearing. The defense chose not to go that route ahead of the murder trial although the judge included mention of "stand your ground" in instructions to the jury.
One problem for Zimmerman if there is a stand your ground hearing: He would have to testify. If he lost a stand your ground hearing, civil suits could move forward.
O'Mara also said his client may seek court hearings over what he called violations of discovery and other problems with the way the prosecution operated.
One thing Zimmerman won't have to go to court over, however, is getting his pistol back. O'Mara told ABC that Zimmerman will start carrying that firearm again, "[There's] even more reason now, isn't there?" he said. "There are a lot of people out there who actually hate him, though they shouldn't."
