The Department of Justice announced Friday that following an investigation into the death of Otis James Byrd that there is no evidence to pursue federal criminal civil rights charges.

Officials from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi and the FBI met Friday with Byrd’s family to inform them of the decision.  Byrd, a 54-year old black man, was found March 19 hanging by a bed sheet from a tree limb behind the home he rented near Port Gibson.

Claiborne County Sheriff Marvin Lucas said there is no signs that the death was a homicide.

“I just hope that people accept it for what it is,” he said. “I hope they take the race issue out of it.”

Lucas said he wants people to understand the Department of Justice conducted a thorough investigation, and their findings reflect that.

Justice Department investigators, working alongside state and local officials, conducted an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Byrd’s death to determine whether his death was a homicide, and therefore within the scope of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

Under the applicable federal criminal civil rights statute, prosecutors must establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, that an individual willfully caused bodily injury because of the victim’s actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or disability.

After a careful and thorough review, a team of experienced federal prosecutors and FBI agents determined that there was no evidence to prove that Byrd’s death was a homicide.

Accordingly, the investigation into this incident has been closed.

The Justice Department is committed to investigations of allegations of hate crimes and will continue to devote the resources required to ensure that all allegations of serious civil rights violations are fully and completely investigated.

The family’s attorney, Dennis Sweet IV, said their investigation is not over.

“What we’re doing is gathering the information available to us through the courts and through subpoena power and conducting our own investigation,” he said.

“We have our own pathologist and investigators.”

Sweet said they are hoping that if they discover there is evidence of a homicide, the authorities will reopen their case.

“The statue of limitations is well over the time they used to investigate it so they will be able to reopen and investigate it to find out who murdered Otis Byrd,” he said.

“I represent the family and the family does think he was murdered, Sweet said.

“From the information we have, we do think it was likely he was murdered.”

A family member who wished to remain anonymous confirmed the meeting with the family.

“They can’t find any evidence that says that someone else did it,” she said. “They ruled it as a suicide.

“Today is a bittersweet day, but God, he’s a higher power and with him on my side, I’ll never stop fighting and demanding justice for Otis James Byrd!”