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Sybrina Fulton, left, the mother of Trayvon Martin, and George Zimmerman who was acquitted on second degree murder charges in Martin's Feb. 26, 2012 killing. Getty Images

MIAMI -- The mother of Trayvon Martin says she's disappointed that federal prosecutors decided not to charge a neighborhood watch volunteer with a hate crime for killing her son three years ago.

Speaking with The Associated Press on Wednesday before the third anniversary of her 17-year-old son's death, Sybrina Fulton says she still believes George Zimmerman got away with murder.

"He took a life, carelessly and recklessly, and he shouldn't deserve to have his entire life walking around on the street free. I just believe that he should be held accountable for what he's done," Fulton said.

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The U.S. Justice Department announced it will not prosecute George Zimmerman on civil rights charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The...

Zimmerman claimed he shot the unarmed teenager in self-defense after confronting Martin while volunteering for his neighborhood watch group. A jury acquitted him of second-degree murder the next year.

The case sparked a national conversation about race, bias and crime in part because Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, was not immediately arrested after shooting Martin, who is black.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that it found insufficient evidence to establish that Zimmerman willfully deprived Martin of his civil rights or killed him because of his race.

"The Justice Department is the top of the line here," Fulton said. "But what they found just wasn't enough."

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Trayvon Martin's mother: George Zimmerman got away with ...

To the surprise of pretty much no one, former neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, poster-guy for Florida's flawed "stand your ground" law, will officially not face federal civil rights charges.

The non-news came this week as the Justice Department closed its investigation into the infamous shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager Zimmerman spotted walking through a Sanford neighborhood on a rainy night three years ago and assumed the worst.

As the world knows by now, Zimmerman called police and followed Martin, who was ultimately shot dead as the two scuffled.

Zimmerman told police he fired in self-defense after the 17-year-old attacked him. Jurors considering a second-degree murder charge in state court said not guilty. And even if you understood the confines of the law that jury was duty-bound to follow, this seemed incomprehensible.

How is it a man can start this kind of interaction with an innocent person and be not guilty of anything in his death even if Martin turned on the stranger who pursued him?

Some people who can't let go of the inherent wrongness in this a teenager walking home from a convenience store with his Skittles, ultimately shot dead pinned unrealistic hope to a federal investigation into, among other things, whether it was a essentially a hate crime.

Standards for proving an incident was racially motivated are high and should be. You might assume intuit, even that Zimmerman was suspicious of this tall teenager in a hoodie in part because he was black. But there is no hard evidence to prove this.

(And by the way, before anyone argues this was not a stand your ground case in state court, remember that Zimmerman's right to "stand his ground" with "no duty to retreat" was part of the instructions read to the jury. And at least one juror said afterward that stand your ground was one of the things considered.)

Zimmerman has not gone quietly on to live his life but instead seems on a reckless course. He has not always appeared sobered by the fact that someone died by his hand, even if he believes he had no choice. (His post-acquittal tour of a factory of the manufacturer of the gun he used that night, for example.) He is so known here that we follow his every exploit closely, too closely, even when he gets stopped for speeding. He has faced allegations of domestic altercations with his estranged wife and two subsequent girlfriends, none of which stuck.

It's surprising to me that people who care about him have not persuaded him to go somewhere he might have a chance for something like a normal life, now that the justice system is done with him in this.

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Carlton: Lessons from Trayvon Martin tragedy still not clear

The Justice Department will not file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman, a Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. (Reuters)

The Justice Department announced Tuesday that George Zimmerman will not face federal criminal civil rights charges for shooting and killing teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.

Zimmerman fatally shot Martin while the unarmed African American 17-year-old was walking in Sanford, Fla. The shooting became a national flashpoint, sparking a discussion of race relations that continues to reverberate since the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and other incidents across the country.

The death of Trayvon Martin was a devastating tragedy, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement. It shook an entire community, drew the attention of millions across the nation, and sparked a painful but necessary dialogue throughout the country.

As a result of the announcement Tuesday, the federal investigation into the shooting has been closed.

Holder said that the comprehensive examination determined that there was not enough evidence for a federal hate crime prosecution. But he addedthat Martins premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface.

Martins familysaid in a statement that they were disappointed with the findings, but thanked the people who offered prayer and other support over the years.

We remain poised to do everything in our power to help eradicate senseless violence in our communities, because we dont want any other parent to experience the unexplainable loss we have endured, Martinsfamily said. We will never, ever forget what happened to our son, Trayvon, and will honor his memory by working tirelessly to make the world a better place.

His family also thanked the Justice Department for the extensive and thorough investigation into the killing of our son. A Martin family attorney confirmed that representatives of the family met with JusticeDepartmentofficials on Tuesday to be told about the decision. They were also joined by officials from the FBI.

The decision was not unexpected, as three law enforcement officials told The Washington Postlast fall that Zimmerman was not expected to facecharges. It was announced two days before the third anniversary of Martins death and almost three weeks after what would have been Martins 20th birthday.

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George Zimmerman wont face civil rights charges in ...

Sybrina Fulton, left, the mother of Trayvon Martin, and George Zimmerman who was acquitted on second degree murder charges in Martin's Feb. 26, 2012 killing. Getty Images

MIAMI -- The mother of Trayvon Martin says she's disappointed that federal prosecutors decided not to charge a neighborhood watch volunteer with a hate crime for killing her son three years ago.

Speaking with The Associated Press on Wednesday before the third anniversary of her 17-year-old son's death, Sybrina Fulton says she still believes George Zimmerman got away with murder.

"He took a life, carelessly and recklessly, and he shouldn't deserve to have his entire life walking around on the street free. I just believe that he should be held accountable for what he's done," Fulton said.

Play Video

The U.S. Justice Department announced it will not prosecute George Zimmerman on civil rights charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. The...

Zimmerman claimed he shot the unarmed teenager in self-defense after confronting Martin while volunteering for his neighborhood watch group. A jury acquitted him of second-degree murder the next year.

The case sparked a national conversation about race, bias and crime in part because Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, was not immediately arrested after shooting Martin, who is black.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that it found insufficient evidence to establish that Zimmerman willfully deprived Martin of his civil rights or killed him because of his race.

"The Justice Department is the top of the line here," Fulton said. "But what they found just wasn't enough."

Read more here:
Trayvon Martin's mother: George Zimmerman got away with murder

Published: Friday, 2/27/2015

BY TAYLOR DUNGJEN BLADE STAFF WRITER

Before noon Thursday, University of Toledo law students Maysaa Ouza and Lauren Smith were convinced that George Zimmerman should have been found guilty in the 2012 murder of Trayvon Martin. An hour later, the two were less sure.

Its interesting to hear all this, Ms. Ouza said after defense attorney Donald Wests recount of the 2013 trial and how it was portrayed by the mass media. Instead of feeling certain of his guilt, Ms. Ouza and Ms. Smith were undecided.

Mr. West gave an hourlong presentation to a nearly full house at the universitys Richard and Jade McQuade Law Auditorium, showing photos of the trial, playing calls made to Sanford, Fla., police, and reviewing media coverage. The lecture was sponsored by the College of Law and the Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity.

The story had been in the national spotlight for about six weeks when Mr. West joined Mr. Zimmermans defense team and, at the time, the case didnt seem very special to me, he said, but the lack of an immediate arrest of Mr. Zimmerman for the shooting death of the 17-year-old Martin youth triggered absolute fury in the media.

The Martin youth and Mr. Zimmerman met, in what turned out to be a fatal encounter, on Feb. 26, 2012, in the Sanford neighborhood where Mr. Zimmerman lived and the Martin youth was visiting his father.

Mr. West said some media coverage of the case wasnt entirely accurate. He said Mr. Zimmerman was not, as reported, acting as a neighborhood watch commander the night the Martin youth was killed, but rather was on his way to Target. He also took issue with the photos used by the media, a years-old picture of Mr. Zimmerman, showing him bigger than he was at the time of the shooting, and a 12-year-old Trayvon Martin, rather than an age-appropriate photo.

After the lecture, not everyone was convinced. Some questioned how the case could not have been seen as racially motivated when Mr. Zimmerman described the Martin youth to a police dispatcher, as seeming suspicious and as if there was something wrong with him.

I dont think a guy who is planning a murder calls police first and then waits four to five minutes to do it, Mr. West said.

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Zimmerman's attorney visits UT