Zimmerman can't be sued for civil rights violations, only government employees(elected or otherwise)can't violate someone's civil rights, so the courts have ruled. Zimmerman is a private citizen and therefore not capable of being brought up on civil rights violation charges.
OJ Simpson was sued in a civil case for damages. I expect to see the same thing here.
Not true. There have been such cases in both California and Oregon.
Here is the portion of the DOJ statue that will likely be used.....it applies to anyone not just federal employees
Hate Crimes
The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 , 18 U.S.C. § 249. Section 249 of Title 18 was enacted as Division E of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (starts at pg. 646 of the Act). Section 249, which went into effect in October 2009, created a new federal criminal prohibition against willfully causing bodily injury (or attempting to do so using fire, a firearm, or another dangerous weapon), when (1) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin of any person, or (2) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person and the crime affected interstate or foreign commerce or occurred within federal special maritime and territorial jurisdiction. The law also provides federal funding and technical assistance to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions to help them to more effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes.”