Is the Zimmerman drama finally over now?...far from it!

As most of you have heard by now, George Zimmerman was acquitted for the killing of Trayvon Martin (see also my last blog post earlier today about the verdict as well as some history of the case). 

I also wrote in that last post that Zimmerman is now a free man. True for now. But as the title of this post indicates, this matter is not necessarily closed. Specifically, Zimmerman could still find himself back in court in the near future...even for criminal charges!!

Before you scream "Double Jeopardy!"...First, the family of Trayvon Martin has the right to file a civil lawsuit against George Zimmerman (for wrongful death, likely under the theory of negligence...but alas, I am no Florida attorney!). You may remember the same thing happened to OJ Simpson - after he was acquitted for the deaths of Nicole Simpson Brown and Ronald Goldman in 1995, he was later found liable in civil court and ordered to pay over $33 million dollars. 

Now, as to the fact that to this day Simpson has only paid $500K of that huge jury award, that his $25K per month NFL pensions (yes, plural!) are conveniently legally untouchable for payment of the civil damages, and that he's currently trying to get a new trial to reverse his Las Vegas armed robbery conviction (which he received 33 years for)...that is way outside the scope of this blog post and I digress!



Ok, back to Zimmerman. So in addition to a private civil suit by the parents, there is the possibility of a Federal Civil Rights suit against Zimmerman, which despite the word "civil" right in the name actually involves criminal charges and thus potential prison time.  Such a case would constitute a federal prosecution filed by the Department of Justice, not the Martin family, and would specifically require proving that the unlawful act in question was racially motivated. 

This is exactly what occurred with the four officers in the Rodney King trial, though that was for assault with a deadly weapon and use of excessive force, not murder. After all four were acquitted in 1992, the Justice Department subsequently prosecuted them for violating King's civil rights (2 of the 4 were found guilty and sent to prison). 

The Justice Department advised today (7/14/13) that it had actually opened an investigation last year back when all this started, but the file was put on hold to let the State handle its case first. Now that the latter phase has ended, the Justice Department still remains pretty tight-lipped as to when or if something will be filed and can only say that it's under review. But the article definitely illustrates at least a few challenges that proceeding with such a case would pose. 

Click here for CNN's updated summary of "the race factor," post verdict.