The Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it doesn't have enough evidence to file civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
The department had been looking into possible hate-crime charges against Zimmerman, who was acquitted last year of second-degree murder and manslaughter after shooting and killing Martin in 2012. Zimmerman maintains that his actions were in self-defense.
The DOJ was looking into the possibility that Zimmerman had targeted Martin because he was black.
Even so, a spokesperson from the DOJ told the Washington Post that the investigation was still active and ongoing.
Likewise, Martin's family says it hasn't heard from the Department of Justice that the case is closed.
Meanwhile, Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, suggested that the case was opened in the first place only over political pressure. O'Mara said the DOJ opened an investigation but never did much actual investigating.
O'Mara says that the DOJ took statements but that those statements showed Zimmerman "acted in very nonracist ways."
Meanwhile, when not getting pulled over by cops for speeding or getting into a domestic violence dispute, Zimmerman has been milking his 15 minutes for all they're worth.
He and brother Robert made headlines recently for taking advantage of CNN's generosity by racking up more than $35,000 in three nights of comped goodness at a Ritz-Carlton in Miami.
While in town for an interview for the cable news station, the Zimmerman brothers went all out, buying expensive dinners and taking advantage of the hotel's pampering service.
All this while George is reportedly millions of dollars in debt and selling his paintings and, sometimes, his body for money.
There was even talk of trying to get a reality show for the Zimmerman family, according to a recent GQ story. That idea was apparently the brainchild of Robert, who wanted to rebrand the family name with a Keeping Up With the Kardashians type of reality show.
Meanwhile, in actual reality, Trayvon Martin is still dead, and his family is still searching for answers.
"Trayvon's parents continue to hope and pray for justice, and they won't have any comments until they hear officially from the Justice Department," said Benjamin Crump, who also represents the family of 18-year-old Michael Brown, whose shooting by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., in August also prompted a public outcry.
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