US News

Civil rights rap for Zimmerman unlikely

CRUCIAL:
Detective Chris Serino, here testifying at the trial of George Zimmerman (bottom inset) said the cop wannabe had a “little hero complex” but wasn’t racially motivated in shooting Trayvon Martin (top inset), an FBI
report says. (
)

An FBI report on the Trayvon Martin killing could drown out the growing chorus calling for a civil-rights prosecution of acquitted shooter George Zimmerman, legal experts said yesterday.

In the report, FBI agents quoted the lead investigator describing the neighborhood-watch volunteer as “overzealous and as having a ‘little hero complex,’ but not as a racist.”

The April 2012 report says Sanford, Fla., Detective Chris Serino found “Zimmerman’s actions were not based on Martin’s skin color” but “on his attire, the total circumstances of the encounter and the previous burglary suspects in the community.”

Prominent Manhattan lawyer Gerald Shargel said the report “clearly weighs in Zimmerman’s favor” and is “going to carry a lot of weight in a charging decision.”

“They need proof beyond a reasonable doubt that this was racially motivated,” he said.

Top civil-rights lawyer Ron Kuby said: “Even if the FBI’s assessment of George Zimmerman was that he was a flaming racist, I don’t think there would be a federal prosecution.”

“The [Justice] Department knows they’re unlikely to prevail, and federal prosecutors don’t like to lose,” Kuby said.

Attorney General Eric Holder yesterday said he was “mindful of the pain felt by our nation surrounding the tragic, unnecessary shooting death of Trayvon Martin.”

But he was noncommittal regarding the federal probe of the slaying, telling the national convention of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority in DC that the Justice Department would follow “the facts and the law.”

Outside the Manhattan federal courthouse, local members of Congress called for civil-rights charges.

“Trayvon Martin did not have a gun. He did not have a knife . . . All Trayvon Martin had was a pack of Skittles,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn).

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) said: “We know the jury has made a decision, but we do not have to agree with that decision, and we will not.”

Meanwhile, one of the trial’s six jurors has inked a deal to sell her story. “Juror B37” plans to write a book with her lawyer husband, said literary agent Sharlene Martin.

Also yesterday, the NYPD said 15 people were busted across upper Manhattan for blocking traffic during protests of the acquittal.

A Post reporter saw protesters hurling bottles at cops, but no injuries were reported.