Before Ahmaud Arbery was tragically murdered on a residential neighborhood by three white males in pickup trucks, the trio had shown hate toward Black people in text conversations and social media posts full of racist obscenities.
Is it possible that Arbery was the victim of a hate crime because of his history of prejudiced remarks?
In U.S. District Court, where the hate crimes trial over Arbery’s death began a week ago, a jury of eight white people, three black people, and one Hispanic person will hear opposing views from prosecutors and defense attorneys as they deliver their closing arguments Monday.
It’s been nearly two years since Arbery, 25, was killed by two shotgun blasts on Feb. 23, 2020, after a five-minute chase through the Satilla Shores area south of Brunswick. A horrific cellphone video of the assassination went viral, causing outrage far beyond Georgia.
The case’s basic facts are undisputed. Greg and Travis McMichael, father and son, armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup vehicle after spotting him sprinting past their home on a Sunday afternoon. In his own pickup, a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and captured video of Travis McMichael firing the fatal bullets at point-blank range.
Last autumn, a Georgia state court found the McMichaels and Bryan guilty of murder. The US Justice Department prosecuted them all with hate crimes in federal court, stating that they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because he is Black. They’re also accused of attempted kidnapping and of using guns in the commission of a crime, according to the McMichaels.
The McMichaels have been condemned to life in prison without the possibility of parole for their murder convictions, regardless of the result of the hate crimes case. Bryan was also given a life sentence, with the possibility of parole after serving at least 30 years.
The federal hate crimes prosecution is focused on whether racism was a factor in Arbery’s pursuit and murder. According to legal experts, this is more difficult to prove than murder. All three McMichaels and Bryan have entered not guilty pleas.
Defense attorneys have argued that the trio sought Arbery because they had a genuine, albeit incorrect, suspicion that he had committed crimes in their community.
Security cameras had shown Arbery many times inside a property under construction a few doors down from the McMichaels’ home before to the shooting. On the day of the shooting, Greg McMichael told police he recognized Arbery as he ran out of the same unfinished house.
Those security videos, however, showed Arbery leaving the building site empty-handed. The McMichaels were told by an officer that there was no evidence of him stealing. When Arbery went past Bryan’s house with the McMichaels in pursuit, Bryan, who had no knowledge of the camera footage, told police he presumed Arbery had done something illegal.
Prosecutors are expected to claim that the three men were suspicious of Arbery because he was black, and that their own earlier statements demonstrate that discrimination was the catalyst for the murderous chase.
In the years and months leading up to the shooting, FBI officials discovered about two dozen racist text messages and social media posts from the McMichaels and Bryan.
“I’d kill that f——ing n——r,” Travis McMichael said on a Facebook video of a Black man playing a joke on a white individual in 2018. Greg McMichael made a Facebook meme in which he claimed that white Irish “slaves” were treated worse than any other race in American history. And for numerous years, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Bryan sent out tweets mocking the civil rights leader’s holiday.
Some witnesses said that they overheard the McMichaels making racist remarks. After learning she had dated a Black man, Travis McMichael made vulgar sexual jokes and referred to her as a “n——r lover,” according to a woman who served under him in the US Coast Guard a decade ago. Greg McMichael had spoken angrily at her in 2015, according to another lady.
None of the statements were refuted by the defense attorneys. After calling only one witness, they rested their case on Friday.
Greg McMichael and Travis McMichael called police in July 2019 to report that they had encountered a homeless man living under a local bridge who they suspected of committing thefts in their neighborhood. He didn’t say anything about the man’s race. Lindy Cofer, a neighbor, testified on Friday that she saw a white male camped overnight beneath the same bridge in 2019. She had no idea if the individual the McMichaels had reported to police was the same person.
