Obama Administration Meets With Trayvon

Obama Administration Meets With Trayvon

08/05/13

Trayvon Martin's mother believes Stand Your Ground allowed Zimmerman to "get away with it". So she's appealing the government to changes these laws. The Obama administration has met with her.

From Miami Herald:

The parents of Trayvon Martin and their lawyer 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 their teen-age son last year.
Prosecutors with the Justice Department’s criminal civil-rights section and FBI agents from Central Florida met with the late teen’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, and their attorney, Benjamin Crump, to bring the family up to speed, according to sources familiar with the meeting.
The meeting was held in Miami to accommodate the parents.
A spokeswoman for the Miami U.S. attorney’s office confirmed the meeting took place there Wednesday, but she could not say who was present. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Tampa referred a reporter’s call to the Justice Department, which declined to comment because of the “ongoing” investigation.
If the Justice Department were to pursue criminal civil-rights charges against Zimmerman, the case would be filed in the Middle District of Florida, which includes Sanford, north of Orlando.
The Justice Department has a handful of criminal civil-rights laws at its disposal, and has filed charges in the past after state juries have returned acquittals.
In Zimmerman’s case, it’s possible the Justice Department might consider using the federal hate-crime statute, though legal experts say that type of prosecution would be a long shot.
The Justice Department has said that authorities “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.”