Federal Jury Finds Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers Guilty Of Hate Crimes
The three men who were previously found guilty in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery appeared before a federal jury in Georgia Tuesday where they were additionally found guilty of hate crimes.
Travis McMichael and his father Greg McMichael, along with their neighbor William Bryan were found guilty on all counts after the jury determined race to have been a motivating factor when they killed Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, in February 2020. The three men were found guilty of murder during a state trial in November 2021.
After a four-hour deliberation, the jury found the trio guilty of kidnapping Arbery, violating his civil rights, and in the case of the McMichaels, using a firearm to commit a crime. The men have 14 days to file appeals before sentencing when they will face a maximum of life in prison.
Prosecutors spent four days presenting witnesses who recounted racist interactions with the defendants, as well as racially insensitive content from their digital communications in the past, to convince the jury that the men were racially motivated when they hunted and killed Arbery.
“If Ahmaud was another white person jogging, would this have happened in the way that it did?” prosecutor Christopher Perras asked during closing arguments.
The defense argued that the three men would have pursued a white man in the same situation as well and that they had reasonable cause to do so. All three defendants have already been sentenced to life in prison for the prior convictions: the McMichaels without the possibility for parole and Bryan with the possibility.