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Justice Department considered whether to file criminal civil rights charges. • Rallies on Sunday were largely peaceful as demonstrators voiced their support for 17-year-old Trayvon Martin's family -- and decried Zimmerman's not guilty verdict as a miscarriage of justice. A march in Los Angeles had minor unrest when a group threw rocks and batteries at police. • The NAACP and protesters called for federal civil rights charges against Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who was acquitted Saturday in Martin's February 2012 shooting death. • The Justice Department said it is looking into the case to determine whether federal prosecutors should file criminal civil rights charges now that Zimmerman has been acquitted in the state case. The department opened an investigation into Martin's death last year but stepped aside to allow the state prosecution to proceed. • The evidence generated during the federal probe is still being evaluated by the criminal section of the Justice Department's civil rights division, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office for the Middle District of Florida, along with evidence and testimony from the state trial, the Justice Department said in a statement. • ___
Justice Dept. would face roadblocks to civil rights case against George Zimmerman
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- Calls for the Justice Department to look into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin reverberated as soon as George Zimmerman was acquitted of state charges in a Florida courtroom, but it may be even tougher to mount a federal case against Zimmerman. • The department says it's reviewing evidence to determine whether criminal civil rights charges are warranted, but legal experts see major barriers to a federal prosecution -- including the burden of proving that Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch leader, was motivated by racial animosity -- and say Justice officials would likely be saddled with some of the same challenges that complicated the unsuccessful state case. • "The Justice Department would face significant challenges in bringing a federal civil rights case against Mr. Zimmerman," said Alan Vinegrad, the former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York. "There are several factual and legal hurdles that federal prosecutors would have to overcome: They'd have to show not only that the attack was unjustified, but that Mr. Zimmerman attacked Mr. Martin because of his race and because he was using a public facility, the street." • The department opened an investigation into Martin's death last year but stepped (Continued on page 25)
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