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Originally Posted by thebigmole
I think the guy was hesitant not because Zimmerman was charged with a crime, but because the prosecution was using previous calls Zimmerman had made reporting suspicious activity against him.
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Again, that speaks more of irrational paranoia than an understanding of the case. But I see your point, and I agree with what you said about the media's role in all this and in similar cases. Sometimes it feels like a bit more editor accountability wouldn't go amiss, or perhaps the odd contempt of court charge...
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Originally Posted by TigerTank77
Technically, since the incident happened solely within Florida's jurisdiction, the Federal government has no constitutional authority to file charges against Zimmerman. The Federal Government cannot supersede state sovereignty when it crimes to judiciary matters, unless the crime falls within Federal jurisdiction.
Their only "constitutional" option is an executive order signed by Obama earlier in his tenure. If a crime is considered a "hate crime", the Federal Government has the authority to file federal charges. However, they can't just throw charges to see what sticks- there has to be clear evidence of a racially based crime, which may have already been ruled out by the FBI's investigation, because they couldn't find any evidence of a racial bias.
However, Eric Holder's already on thin ice, and it sounds like Obama's already given up on it- he made his gun control plug after admitting that "a jury has spoken", and that was about it.
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I believe this review is in relation to allegations made regarding a potential civil rights offence, which were under investigation before the state prosecution went ahead. My understanding is that such offences are federal responsibility and not state, so were there a viable case to answer the Justice Department would be within its rights to begin a prosecution. I do not believe it is related to a hate crime charge, but we'll have to wait and see.