The U.S. Department of Justice, overseen by Attorney General Eric Holder, has ordered the Sanford, Florida police department to keep possession of all the evidence from George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial - including the exonerated neighborhood watch volunteer's gun.



Sanford police confirmed on Thursday that the DOJ asked the agency not to return any pieces of evidence to their owners. Zimmerman was expected to get his firearm back by month's end.



The development is a sign that the criminal section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is seriously investigating Zimmerman to determine if federal civil rights charges should be filed.



The local police had discretion to determine who was a suitable person to carry firearms. King, a clergyman whose life was threatened daily, surely met the requirements of the law, but he was rejected nevertheless.



A high school intern with the conservative Daily Caller Web site got into a testy exchange with White House Press Secretary Jay Carney Wednesday after asking if the White House would intervene to protect George Zimmerman from death threats in the wake of his acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges.



“Because of the death threats being received by George Zimmerman and his parents, is the president going to take any action for their security or are they on their own?” Gabe Finger asked.



Carney responded that he wasn’t aware of the threats and that Florida authorities would be responsible for handling them, but that Obama opposes “any violence of any kind” in response to the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case.

