Don’t Retry George Zimmerman

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- When in 1992 a California juryacquitted the four officers who beat Rodney King, the result wasa race riot of a kind not seen since the late 1960s -- followedby a federal civil-rights prosecution that convicted two of theofficers. The acquittal of George Zimmerman for killing TrayvonMartin hasn’t produced rioting, but it has spawned a growingdemand, led by the National Association for the Advancement ofColored People, for a federal trial to re-charge Zimmerman withviolating Martin’s civil rights. The Justice Department said itwill now “evaluate the evidence.”

The laws have changed since 1992 to make bringing such aprosecution easier than it would once have been. Yet thelikelihood of getting a conviction would be extremely small --and instead of placating people who feel aggrieved by the firsttrial, another failed prosecution might make race relations inAmerica worse, not better.