Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerTank77
The thing is it would HAVE to be a hate crime charge. The Federal government can't slap federal charges on state level crimes at will. The only reason they're "looking into it" right now is that hate crimes are the only crimes that they can peruse, because hate crimes fall within their jurisdiction. It's kind of like how bank robberies, no matter how small, automatically fall within the jurisdiction of the FBI.
This incident, as it stands right now, doesn't fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. They need clear and present evidence of racial motivation behind Zimmerman's actions, and as of right now there isn't any.
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My understanding (again limited by the fact I don't know US federal law inside out) is that a civil rights violation charge could be brought separately from any potential hate crime charge. Certainly,
this article would suggest that to be the case. I'll need to do some more reading on the background law though.