DOJ to Investigate Zimmerman for Federal Civil Rights Charges

On Sunday afternoon, the Obama Department of Justice announced that it would pursue investigation into George Zimmerman. 

That announcement came just hours after Zimmerman was acquitted for second-degree murder and manslaughter in the killing of Trayvon Martin, and within one day of the NAACP calling on the DOJ for an investigation. 

Here is the Department of Justice statement in full:

As the Department first acknowledged last year, we have an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin. The Department of Justice’s Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial. Experienced federal prosecutors 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 in accordance with the Department’s policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial.