There is no such statute. The federal laws that apply to an act in Florida (as opposed to the special maritime jurisdiction of the United States) require either a federal nexus (federal employee being killed); an action under color of state law (as in local law enforcement being accused); an attempt to interfere with federally-protected activities (voting, registering voters); or – my personal favorite – interfering any person’s housing rights because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin. Perhaps you believe the federal government can prove Martin was on his way to rent an apartment.
And of course, the most obvious one, mentioned ad nauseum above: that Martin was killed primarily and directly because of animus directed against his actual or perceived race, color, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation.
There is no other applicable federal criminal law. If you think there is, cite it, or shut up.
The prosecutors may elect to go forward despite the absence of such evidence. But that just means their indictment will be quashed-- and remember that federal judges are not elected, and much less vulnerable to worry about political pressure.
Then it would appear that the DoJ prosecutors referenced in my quote don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground. I’m sure your clients feel very fortunate.
This is an attempt to take a page out of the Rodney King playbook. The problem is that, unlike the police in that case, Zimmerman had no legal authority over Trayvon Martin.
Zimmerman was not a police officer nor an elected official.
There is ZERO basis for civil rights charges. And contrary to popular opinion, racism (which isn’t evident in this case anyway) is neither illegal nor a Federal offense.
You quoted a general-interest article that has been dumbed down for public consumption. You can be assured that the DOJ understands that there are VERY few potential federal causes of action against Zimmerman. Hell, the quotation in the article you cited uses the word “limited.”
DS, will you give it a rest already? You’re clearly wrong and Bricker (and everyone who’s sided with him) is clearly right. You’re just embarrassing yourself at this point.
Bricker, why do you think that it’s unlikely the Martin’s might get stuck with the legal bills if Zimmerman has to defend himself from a civil suit (given Florida’s 776.032 (3))?
No. I’m confident they are well aware of the lack of applicable federal charges.
But they also don’t want to fuel ire by announcing there is no federal criminal prosecution in the offing. Thus their statement: experienced prosecutors are looking carefully at the statutes to see what might be available to charge.
A moment’s thought would reveal the lie: experienced prosecutors need to carefully review the existing federal criminal code to determine applicable statutes?
To convene a grand jury, to draft an indictment, sure…time is needed. To simply identify the generally relevant statute? No, that one they would be able to answer instantly…or they’re not all that experienced.
The above is not an accurate analysis. Federal law reaches a death motivated primarily by racial animus, as I said above. So if you’re a racist and you kill someone to express your racial hatred, that’s a federal crime, even if you’re NOT a police officer or elected official.
Because Florida has no process for conducting an immunity hearing under § 776.032 after the criminal trial is over.
All the Florida case law contemplates a defendant seeking this hearing before (and in lieu of) a criminal trial. No Florida case has ever presented in this posture: a defendant who declined a 776.032 hearing pre-trial, went to trial, and was acquitted. Arguably, the State of Florida is no longer a party in interest – Zimmerman is no longer a criminal defendant. Will Florida oppose the motion? If they decline to appear, what happens? If they say the issue is moot, what happens? For them, it is moot. The party concerned with the result now is the Martin family, but there is no vehicle by which their interests are represented at a 776.032 hearing.
So the courts will need to fashion some answer to this, but it’s an issue of first impression.
I concede, but only because I’m too lazy to waste time actually researching this. I certainly won’t rely upon or accept your opinion though. As someone who used to do research and legal writing for a living, I learned to approach things like this very differently than most attorneys - even clerks. That’s why people would hire me when they needed a brief for an appeal, to support a motion, etc. I specialized in advocacy documents. When you do this, you see things through a very different filter. You probably have some idea of what I mean, but if you’re like the attorneys I worked for who were also criminal lawyers, it’s not how you spend the vast majority of your time.
But regardless, that is completely off topic and also longer ago than I care to admit. I’m shutting up now and unsubscribing to the thread.
I know that trial lawyers aren’t appellate lawyers (though many think they are), and vice versa. But I have no idea what you’re talking about here. The statutes either exist or they don’t. Bricker has conclusively shown that you’re flat-out wrong. Just admit it.
Bricker, what do you think of the DOJ’s creation of an email address for tips? Does the DOJ really think that the pretrial investigation wasn’t exhaustive?
Thanks for the response. So, for us non-lawyers, it basically amounts to: Zimmerman would be attempting a new and novel approach to 776.032 and no one really knows how the courts might handle it, right?
I remember there was some speculation that Zimmerman’s attorney’s might have requested a 776.032 hearing in the middle of his trial, after the prosecution rested, or something like that:
You don’t think they’re really hoping that it’ll turn up someone who claims they heard Zimmerman say that he hates blacks in middle school, or something, ANYTHING, so that they can file some charges and take it to trial?
The “experienced federal prosecutors” that DOJ promised are a sop to NAACP and various race hustlers. Yes, they will consider, and they will see that there is nothing they can “get” Zimmerman on. Sure they can try charging him, but it will be humiliating for them to lose the case. Deservedly.
There is probably some hope among the upper echelons at DOJ that some undiscovered evidence might be found…but that doesn’t change the political nature of the exercise.