Sybrina, Tracy, and Attorney Crump Met With Federal Investigators
Tracy Martin, father of Trayvon Martin
August 1, 2013
The Miami Herald reports that the parents of Trayvon Martin and lawyer Benjamin Crump met with Justice Department prosecutors and FBI agents at the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami Wednesday to discuss the status of a criminal civil-rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin last year. Prosecutors with the Justice Department’s criminal civil-rights section and FBI agents met with Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin to bring the family up to speed.
“The federal investigation, which was opened while George Zimmerman faced prosecution for the death of the 17-year-old, gained renewed interest last month after Zimmerman was acquitted in state court of Martin’s killing in a Sanford gated community.”
Racial profiling was not an issue in the charging affidavit, nor was it an issue in George Zimmerman’s trial.
Posted on 08/02/2013, in Department of Justice, Justice For Trayvon, Trayvon Martin and tagged Benjamin Crump, civil rights, DOJ, federal, George Zimmerman, justice for Trayvon, Miami Herald, Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin, Trayvon Martin, trial. Bookmark the permalink. 15 Comments.
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident 
There is no question in my mind that Trayvon’s civil rights were violated by gz.
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me too Yahtzee, No doubt.
Thank You Xena, for all that you’ve done and do for the the family of Trayvon Martin. Did you see the article where the Smithsonian may want Trayvon’s Hoodie?
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Xena, does this mean charges are coming? I sure hope so.
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@SG2. HEY!!
I don’t know if it means charges are coming, but the feds had an ongoing investigation already so they must have found something. During the State’s murder case, the feds interviewed others to find out whether GZ is racist. What those witnesses probably don’t know if that after they said GZ is not racist, the feds investigated them to see whether or not they are racist.
Then too, we have people such as the following. At about 3:40 into the video, he talks about how GZ harassed him.
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Bring on the charges!
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@SG2. Right on! The feds seldom ever file one charge. They will have so many counts that it will make GZ’s head swim.
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My opinion is that there will be no federal charges filed against Piglet because Obama doesn’t have the balls to go there for blacks.
He risked his second term for gay white men and Hispanics but the only thing he has for blacks are empty platitudes.
Furthermore Papa Zimmerman has some blackmail material on a lot of influencial people-not just in Florida but persons with national (international) influence.
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The FBI is the investigative arm for the DOJ. When they have evidence of a crime, they turn it over to the U.S. Attorney for the district in which the crime was committed. If the U.S. Attorney cannot work things out with the accused to plea, he/she takes it before a federal grand jury.
Sorry Roderick2012, but other than President Obama and AG Holder giving their opinions or confirming information, I don’t see how any decision whether to charge is up to them.
As far as Papa Zim and his ability to maybe blackmail those with influence, well, now-a-days there isn’t much that has “shock value.”
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Come on Xena, you know that Holder and Obama have lots of influence over how the DOJ allocates its resources.
As far as shock value people still want to keep up appearances because they can’t be honest with themselves—especially egotistical politicians.
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@roderick2012. I would think that whomever heads the FBI (can’t think of the name now), is the one to allocate resources in terms of conducting investigations. Does that mean that AG Holder is out of the loop? No, but it doesn’t put him on the ground conducting investigations either.
Is or has there ever been a politician who is not egotistical? I think in politics it’s called “leadership skills.” 🙂
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I meant egotistical in the sense that they believe that they can do crap and no one will find out about it.
It was that same hubris that allowed Bill Clinton to get in front of the cameras and wag his finger and lie his arse off about not playing with Monica.
Besides Americans still have puritan views of sex and marriage so no cheating politician is safe from blackmail.
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@roderick2012. Ooooh. I see said the blind man as he walked across the street against a red light. LOL!!
Well, to be honest, who would have thought that Monica hadn’t sent that dress to the cleaners? LOL. You would think that Clinton would have offered to pay the cleaning bill.
Yeah, unfaithfulness to spouse and sexual harassment still causes a jaw or two to drop, but people who blackmail and/or commit emotional extortion generally attempt using what shames them. Papa Zim no doubt got his sons out of trouble with the law, and if any other judge did the same, that is what the Zimmermans would want to use against them.
It is very similar to the approach GZ took in the Ware situation. He got away with doing wrong because of his dad, and couldn’t stand to see another person do the same.
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It doesn’t seem likely to me that the DoJ will charge GZ with a hate crime. To get a conviction, they would need proof beyond a reasonable doubt that GZ targeted Trayvon Martin because he was black, and committed a crime when he killed him.
As it happens, it seems very very likely that he DID target the teen because of his color, and he committed a crime when he chased him with his car, (thus invalidating any claim of justifiable homicide) and further crimes when he lied to the police in the wake of the killing, but as we have seen the local and state authorities failed to prove these facts beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury.
But the burden of proof is too high to say what was in his mind, I fear, and the laws surrounding hate crimes are also restrictive. The opportunity to successfully prosecute GZ were at the state level, in a murder or manslaughter trial, and the situation was mishandled.
The meeting with the Martin family certainly didn’t cause the family to hold a press conference afterwards. I’ll wait and see what happens but I don’t hold out much hope.
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@willisnewton.
The not guilty verdict was not because prosecutors failed to prove the facts beyond a reasonable doubt. Based on Maddy, Juror B29’s statements, someone in that jury room convinced her and 2 other jurors that the law requires intent in order to convict Zimmerman. Based on Juror B37’s literary agent’s statement, she voted not guilty due to the way Zimmerman was arrested. We know that was not an issue at trial, so she came to voir dire with an opinion and ready to vote not guilty.
Feds are very patient. 🙂
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