BRUNSWICK, GA. — They chased and killed a running Black man who was unarmed and committed no crimes, leaving a trail of racist text messages and social media posts in the months and years before the shooting.
Whether the three white men sentenced to life in prison in state court for murdering Ahmaud Arbery also are guilty of hate crimes is now in the hands of a federal jury.
The panel of eight white people, three Black people and one Hispanic person received the case Monday following a week-long trial in U.S. District Court in the port city of Brunswick. The jurors adjourned for the night after about three hours of deliberations, and resumed deliberations at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The trial closed Monday with prosecutors saying 25-year-old Arbery’s slaying on a residential street was motivated by "pent-up racial anger," revealed by the defendants’ electronic messages as well as by witnesses who testified to hearing them make racist tirades and insults.
"All three defendants told you loud and clear, in their own words, how they feel about African Americans," prosecutor Tara Lyons told the jury Monday.
Defense attorneys insisted that past racist statements by their clients offered no proof they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because he’s Black. They urged the jury to set aside their emotions.
"It’s natural for you to want retribution or revenge," said Pete Theodocion, representing William "Roddie" Bryan. "But we have to elevate ourselves … even if it’s the tough thing."
The basic facts aren’t disputed. The slaying of Arbery nearly two years ago, on Feb. 23, 2020, was captured in a graphic cellphone video that sparked widespread outrage. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves after spotting Arbery running past their home and chased him in a pickup truck. Bryan joined his neighbors in his own truck and recorded the video of Travis McMichael firing at point-blank range.
Police found Arbery had no weapon and no stolen items. Prosecutors said he was merely out jogging.
Travis McMichael’s attorney, Amy Lee Copeland, told the jury that prosecutors presented no evidence that he "ever spoke to anyone about Mr. Arbery’s death in racial terms." She said her client opened fire in self-defense after Arbery tried to take away his shotgun.
Greg McMichael’s attorney, A.J. Balbo, argued that his client initiated the chase not because Arbery was a Black man, but becausexjmtzyw he was "THE man" the McMichaels had seen in security camera videos taken from a nearby house under construction.
The McMichaels and Bryan, convicted of murder last fall in a Georgia state court, pleaded not guilty to the federal charges.
FBI agents uncovered roughly two dozen racist text messages and social media posts from the McMichaels and Bryan in the years and months preceding the shooting.
For instance, in 2018, Travis McMichael commented on a Facebook video of a Black man playing a prank on a white person: "I’d kill that f—-ing n—-r."
Some witnesses testified they heard the McMichaels’ racist statements firsthand. A woman who served under Travis McMichael in the U.S. Coast Guard a decade ago said he called her "n—-r lover," after learning she’d dated a Black man. Another woman testified Greg McMichael had ranted angrily in 2015 when she remarked on the death of civil rights activist Julian Bond, saying, "All those Blacks are nothing but trouble."
