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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to address NAACP amid probe of Trayvon Martin case
In part because of the new law, the department’s civil-rights division has increased its focus on hate crimes during Obama’s first term, convicting 141 defendants on charges in the fiscal years of 2009 through 2012, according to the department. That marked a 74 percent increase from the previous four-year period.
There is a possibility that any civil cases over Martin’s death would be delayed while a criminal inquiry is pending. That may stall a potential wrongful-death lawsuit by Martin’s family against Zimmerman.
That places the focus on the federal probe, something the Justice Department said would now include a review of evidence and testimony from the state trial. For the federal prosecutors working on the case, the focus will be on whether the evidence is there for charges, not the emotionally charged nature of the case, Bagenstos said.
“It’s something they are used to and that they filter out,” Bagenstos said. “Everything that the criminal section of the civil rights division does is very politically charged.”
