Free Republic

Few people thought they would, right? Holder’s teased friendly audiences from time to time with vague promises that “justice” would be done but even he’s been at pains to note that civil-rights cases are hard to win. I think that, ever since the Rodney King trials, the public has a hazy sense that if a state prosecutor can’t get a conviction in a racially charged case that’s gotten national attention, the feds will swoop in and file their own charges as a fallback option. It’s not a matter of law, it’s a matter of politics: If people are sufficiently...

The Justice Department is not expected to bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, according to three law enforcement officials, despite allegations that the killing was racially motivated. The federal investigation of Zimmerman was opened two years ago by the department’s civil rights division, but officials said there is insufficient evidence to bring federal charges. The investigation technically remains open, but it is all but certain the department will close it. …

an in-depth interview in GQ, George Zimmerman's brother discloses that his family wanted to "rebrand" the former Neighborhood Watch volunteer after his murder acquittal and make him the star of a reality TV show. "I learned a lot from watching 'Keeping up with the Kardashians,' " Robert Zimmerman Jr. told GQ in a story in its October editions. George Zimmerman, 30, would not take part in the interview unless he was offered a week's stay in a luxury hotel, something the magazine would not do, it reported. Still, the magazine reported some fascinating details about his pre- and post-trial life...

In order to secure an interview with George Zimmerman, CNN reportedly offered to put up Zimmerman and his brother, Robert, at the Ritz-Carlton for three nights and pay for “everything” else they needed. At the end of their stay, CNN was given a $3,600 tab that included a large room service bill, spa treatments and “swag” from the gift shop, according to GQ. When the bill was sent to a CNN producer, he reportedly told Robert Zimmerman, “You and your brother are evil!” More from the GQ profile on the Zimmermans: The Zimmermans seized on their brief stint of subsidized...

Mayor Kevin Johnson will convene a two-day forum of the U.S. Conference of Mayors this weekend in Sacramento that will include a session discussing the response to the violence in Ferguson, Mo. The attorney representing the family of Michael Brown, the young man killed by police in Ferguson in August, will be part of the panel discussion. Attorney Benjamin Crump also represents the family of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager shot in 2012 by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla....

I was stunned by the anger and sarcasm Harry J. Mallory directed toward a dead teenager, Trayvon Martin, in the Sept. 17 letters. It was over the top and then some (“Cartoon comparing Putin to Zimmerman case went too far”). His reasoning seems pretty easy to understand: Trayvon was black; blacks are thugs; so all George Zimmerman did was create a “dead thug.” Sadly, this sort of (racism) seems pretty common among the far right these days. Here’s what I remember: Trayvon Martin was simply walking home. George Zimmerman targeted him because he was black. Zimmerman followed Trayvon, even after...

Rapper Snoop Dogg and the League of Young Voters came together to host a panel about police brutality and the chaotic events that unfolded in Ferguson, Missouri, after 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot. In addition to Snoop Dogg, the panel also welcomed Michael Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr.; Jordan Davis’ mother, Lucia McBath; attorney Benjamin Crump and Chuck Creekmur of AllHipHop. The panel, titled No Guns Allowed: Fallout From Ferguson, took place during the BET Hip-Hop Awards weekend in Atlanta. The group of panelists discussed what the African-American community needs to do to help solve issues of racism and...

ith a smile on his face, George Zimmerman spent Saturday afternoon posing for photos, sharing hugs and shaking hands with gun enthusiasts at a firearms expo in Lake Mary.. "It's so odd to me," said Zimmerman, about the celebrity treatment he receives in public. "[But] it is appreciated." In his first interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Zimmerman described life after his acquittal last year in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The former Neighborhood Watch volunteer shot the unarmed black teen in Sanford on Feb. 26, 2012. Now life for the 30-year-old is completely different. He's always moving. He's...

Taught by attorney for the Martin family.A JD student at the University of Miami School of Law–and a long-time fan of “The Law of Self Defense”–contacted me recently to share a notice he’d received from the school. It seems for the Fall 2014 semester they will be offering a “short course” (good for one credit) with a focus on the Trayvon Martin case, entitled “Legal Advocacy, Media and the Pursuit of Social Justice.” The first note of interest is that the course is being “taught” by none other than Jasmine Rand, an attorney with the firm of Crump & Park....

The mother of a teen slain at a Jacksonville gas station after he and his friends refused to turn down their music will be among the panelists at a seminar in Orlando about the controversial Stand Your Ground law. Jordan Davis' mother, Lucia McBath, will be among the experts examining whether there is racial disparity in the application or enforcement of Stand Your Ground laws. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is hosting the forum, which takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 17 in the grand ballroom of the Rosen Centre Hotel on International Drive. The forum...

In the weeks and months after Trayvon Martin was killed, his mother saw 50 different photos painting him as a thug.. It was as if portraying the slain 17-year-old as something he wasn't — a muscle-bound, tattooed rapper, or a young man wearing his pants low and flipping middle fingers with each hand — somehow justified his death, Sybrina Fulton said. "At first, I thought I was at fault myself. I thought maybe it was the hoodie," she said. But Fulton said she soon came to realize that even in 2012, she didn't have to look to her son's sweatshirt...

A little over a year ago the debate was fierce over whether Florida state prosecutor Angela “Tough on Crime” Corey assigned to prosecute George Zimmerman for killing Trayvon Martin would dump the case. There was good reason for the debate. Zimmerman was not a police officer. But he was seen as the next best or worst thing to it since he had close ties with law enforcement and was a one-time neighborhood watch patrol officer. This automatically bestowed on him the shield that cops have from any charges of misconduct, especially in cases where the victims of their misconduct are...

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The mother of slain teen Trayvon Martin will be part of a discussion at Lehigh University Tuesday. As part of the University's MLK Committee, a "Rap Sessions' event discussion will be offered at 7 p.m. in Baker Hall. The panel will feature Sybrina Fulton, the mother of Trayvon Martin, and will be moderated by hip hop artist and activist Jasari X. Martin was a 17-year-old African-American high school student was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman in February 2012 in a Sanford, Florida, neighborhood. Zimmerman was acquitted of the crime in July 2013. Other...

George Zimmerman is in the news again, and to no surprise it's not in a positive way. This Saturday news report shares that the man acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin was recently involved in a road rage incident. Lake Mary Police said that the unidentified victim called 911 before and during the incident. He said that Zimmerman pulled up to him and said "Why are you pointing a finger at me?" When the man pulled into a parking lot, Zimmerman allegedly followed him as he was calling police, but left before the cops showed up on the scene. The man...

Lake Mary Police have confirmed they've had another run-in with George Zimmerman. According to officers, on Tuesday, a man called 911 saying George Zimmerman threatened to kill him during a road rage incident. The following day, the same man called 911 again and said Zimmerman was waiting for him at work, and he felt worried for his safety. Lake Mary Police said they confronted Zimmerman, and he admitted to exchanging words with the man the previous day. Zimmerman's string of legal issues started two years ago with the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Since he was acquitted in the Martin murder...

(93-PHOTOS-AT-LINK) Evidence photos released by the Fourth Circuit Court State Attorney's Office and the lawyers for George Zimmerman in the shooting death of teen Trayvon Martin. Sanford resident Zimmerman has been charged with second-degree murder...

Jasmine Rand, the attorney for Trayvon Martin’s family in the State of Florida v. George Zimmerman trial, spoke at Lehigh on Thursday in a lecture called “Sexualizing Race, Gendering Sex.” Trayvon Martin was a young African-American man walking home from a 7-Eleven in Sanford, Fla., late at night while wearing a hoodie and holding a package of Skittles. George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator for Martin’s gated community, shot him for “looking suspicious.” Throughout the trial that followed the incident, the phrase “I am Trayvon Martin” was used to generate support for the victim. “That phrase, it was born on...

You walk down the street, your whole life ahead of you, until a police car comes up behind you. Some will claim that you continued walking, others that you attempted to draw a gun. Either way, your life ends when that officer shoots you to death. For those of you who don’t know, Mike Brown, an African-American teenager from Ferguson, Missouri, died at the hands of a local police officer on Aug. 9. Unfortunately, racially charged incidents like this can and do happen even in Greensboro. “A Vietnamese woman (was) shot here,” said Director of the Bonner Center for Community...

Two years ago, the media reported that Trayvon Martin, a young, unarmed black man, had been gunned down by a white assailant named George Zimmerman, and racism was the reason. But then the facts started to dribble out, and many of the assumptions that drove the initial outrage turned out to be inaccurate. The Martin shooting wasn’t the first time the media has gotten it wrong. Many may not remember the case of Richard Jewell, the security guard who alerted police about pipe bombs left in a park during the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He was wrongfully charged with the...

Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday that the federal civil rights investigation into the 2012 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin remains active, noting “recent developments” in the case. The Justice Department is weighing charges against George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman who shot and killed Martin in an incident that captured national interest. Zimmerman was acquitted of murder charges more than a year ago, but the Justice Department is still running down leads as part of its civil rights probe, Holder said. “That matter is ongoing,” said Holder, who was asked about the case during a news conference announcing the...