Robbie Tolan speaking out after US Supreme Court ruling

BELLAIRE, TX (KTRK) -- A bullet remains in his liver. But Robbie Tolan says he has not given up the fight that remains in his heart.

At a press conference Monday morning he stated, "This is bigger than Robbie Tolan. This is bigger than Trayvon Martin. My prayer is that we haven't missed the meaning."

It was Tolan's first public comment since U.S. Supreme Court last week ruled that a federal appeals court had failed to consider his sequence of events the night he was shot by a Bellaire police officer outside his home in 2008. The justices ordered the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals to reconsider his case.

Tolan was unarmed and shot New Year's Eve 2008 outside his parents' home. Police mistakenly believed he was armed and had stolen a vehicle.

He and his family filed a lawsuit against a Bellaire police officer and city officials, alleging unconstitutional excessive force was used when he was shot. A federal district court judge in Houston granted a summary judgment in favor of Sgt. Jeffrey Cotton and the city, agreeing with their arguments that government officials have immunity from civil lawsuits unless their conduct violated a clearly established right. In 2010, a jury acquitted Sgt. Cotton of criminal charges.

Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee is now asking the U.S. Department of Justice to review the federal civil case. She tells Eyewitness News that there may even be value in reviewing the state criminal case again.

Benjamin Crump, the attorney who represented Trayvon Martin, has also now been hired to represent Tolan. He says they will "never stop standing up for justice" and that the civil case should be heard by a jury.

Bellaire Police have refused to comment. The attorney for Sgt. Cotton, Bellaire police and city officials says the Supreme Court decision is procedural in nature and that he has seen nothing that would suggest to him that the court of appeals would not reaffirm its dismissal.