After a trial that lasted for a week in US District Court in Brunswick, Ga., prosecutors argued the three convicts clearly harbored racist beliefs, citing previous text messages and social-media posts that were racist in nature as evidence.
The three men convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery were found in a federal hate crimes trial. In November, Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were all found guilty of felony murder and other charges. They had violated 25-year-old Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him; the reason was — he was Black.
Greg and Travis McMichael, 66 and 35 years old, respectively, and William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, were already sentenced to life in prison by the state court for Arbery’s murder in a Georgia court in January.
The men now face life in prison for the federal crimes, on top of the life sentences they received earlier this year after being convicted of Arbery’s murder, with only Bryan eligible for parole.
When the McMichaels saw Arbery jogging past their house on Feb. 23, 2020, they grabbed their weapons and chased him in a truck. Bryan recorded cellphone footage of the killing, in which Travis McMichael fired the fatal shot with his Remington shotgun, after joining the duo in the chase.
Arbery possessed no weapons and had committed no crimes.
The incident, as well as the fact that the suspects were not apprehended until two months after the victim’s death, had sparked national outrage.
The McMichaels attempted to negotiate a plea bargain that would have allowed them to serve their time in federal rather than state prison. However, after Arbery’s parents objected to the deal, the judge rejected it, and sent the case to trial.
During the federal trial, lawyers for the three defendants argued that the men were motivated not by racial animus, but rather by Arbery’s appearance as a potential criminal suspect.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, presented copious evidence that the men held crude racist views about Black people. Witnesses at the trial testified that they overheard the three men making racist remarks and going on tirades against people of color.
The Arbery family could be seen holding each other and crying in the courtroom as the verdict convicting the three White men of a federal hate crime, attempted kidnapping charges, and firearms charges was read, CNN reported.
Wednesday marks the two-year anniversary of Arbery’s assassination, which his father has described as a “modern-day lynching.” This month, the legislature also declared Feb 23 “Ahmaud Arbery Day.”
