US Attorney General Eric Holder revealed that the Department of Justice is still probing the death of Trayvon Martin, even saying there have been “recent” developments in the investigation of the 2012 shooting of the Florida teen.
It appears that the DOJ is still considering charges against George Zimmerman, who was tried and acquitted by a Florida court of murdering Martin.
During a press conference about another “civil rights” case the DOJ is opening in Ferguson, Missouri, Holder noted that the investigation into Martin’s death is still “ongoing.“
“There are active steps that we are still in the process of taking,” Holder asserted. “There are witnesses who we want to speak to as a result of some recent developments.”
The Attorney General did not elaborate on just what those “recent developments” might be.
One of the most recent statements on the government’s DOJ website was posted on July 15, 2013, a year after the shooting:
As the Department first acknowledged last year, we have an open investigation into the death of Trayvon Martin. The Department of Justice’s Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial.
Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate in accordance with the Department’s policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial.
No newer statements appear on the DOJ website, and Holder’s comment is the first on the case for some time.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.