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Three White men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were found guilty of federal hate crimes charges Tuesday in a Georgia courtroom.The jury of eight White people, three Black people and one Hispanic person deliberated for less than five hours.Prosecutor Christopher Perras argued that Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan acted out of “pent-up racial anger” when they chased and killed Arbery, 25, after spotting the Black man on a jog near their homes in Satilla Shores, outside of Brunswick.
Courtoom screen grabs from Fox News; Ahmaud Arbery photo courtesy of family.
(Ahmaud Arbery Courtesy of Family)Lawyers for the McMichaels said they had recognized Arbery as the same man captured on surveillance footage on at least five occasions inside a nearby home that was under construction. There is no evidence Arbery ever took anything from the property.AHMAUD ARBERY KILLING: PROSECUTORS BUILD CASE FOR HATE CRIMESNearly two years ago, on Feb. 23, 2020, the men grabbed their guns and pursued Arbery, who was unarmed, for five minutes through their residential neighborhood in a white pick-up truck. Bryan, who did not have a gun, joined the Sunday afternoon chase in his own truck and took graphic cellphone footage of the fatal confrontation.
In this 2012 file photo provided by Yolanda Richardson, of FuzzyRabbit Fotos, Ahmaud Arbery poses for a senior photo on St. Andrews Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia. (Yolanda Richardson/FuzzyRabbit Fotos via AP, File)
(AP)After the men trapped Arbery with their trucks, the young man grabbed for Travis McMichael’s rifle. The two tussled then Travis McMichael opened fire.AHMAUD ARBERY’S MOTHER FEELS ‘COMPLETELY BETRAYED’ BY DOJ’S HATE CRIMES PLEA DEALThe three men were convicted of murder in November in Georgia state court. The McMichaels were both sentenced to life in prison without parole, while Bryan received a sentence of life with the possibility of parole after 30 years. The U.S. Department of Justice charged the men separately in federal court with hate crimes, alleging they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because of his race.CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPProsecutors cited past racist statements the men had made to prove the murder was motivated by racial animus. Defense lawyers countered that those slurs were not proof they targeted Arbery because he was Black. The Associated Press contributed to this report.