Thanks, Mike. I've been out of the Federal game for over 10 years. I see by your links where the Hate Crimes Prevention act was passed in 2009 after I pulled out. I doubt if there is a shred of evidence to prove a Hate Crimes violation in the Martin killing. While not a bar to Federal prosecution, Feds usually defer to bona fide state prosecutions for the same essential conduct under a doctrine the name of which escapes me. (It is not double jeopardy if there is another element under the federal statute absent in the state criminal statute.) In any event, I can't see any US attorney in his right mind attempting to present these facts to a grand jury. There was no testimony or evidence that Zimmerman acted out of racial animus as would be required for a Hate Crimes violation. If there had been, we would have heard it in the Florida trial. Any talk about a federal prosecution is political posturing by a bunch of blowhards. The Civil Rights Act that I referred to was for civil damages only and not criminal conduct.