Ahmaud Arbery's three killers 'regularly used racial slurs and murdered him because he was black'

Three Georgia men who shot and killed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020 had a long history of making racist remarks and were motivated by a dislike of black people, a jury was told on Tuesday.

The three – Gregory McMichael, 66; his son Travis McMichael, 36, and neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, 52 – were convicted in November of shooting dead Arbery and have all been sentenced to life in prison, with only Bryan having even the possibility of parole.

On Monday, their federal hate crimes trial began, with prosecutors intent on proving that the trio was motivated by race – something notoriously difficult to confirm.

Their state trial which found them guilty did not delve into the motivation of the three men, and instead avoided the complex issue of race.

With Arbery’s parents sitting in the courtroom in Brunswick, Georgia, prosecutors depicted the trio as deeply racist relics of a bygone era.

Barbara Bernstein, deputy chief of the Department of Justice’s civil rights division, said that if Arbery, an avid runner, had been white, he would have been able to go for an afternoon jog unmolested and ‘been home in time for Sunday supper.’

She told the court: ‘Instead, he went out for a jog, and ended up running for his life. 

‘Instead, he ended up bleeding to death, alone and scared, in the middle of the street.’

Travis McMichael, his father Gregory, and their neighbor William 'Roddie' Bryan were described by prosecutors on Tuesday as racist killers

Travis McMichael, his father Gregory, and their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan were described by prosecutors on Tuesday as racist killers

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot and killed in February 2020. Now his killers are facing a hate crimes trial

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot and killed in February 2020. Now his killers are facing a hate crimes trial

Arbery's mother is seen on January 7 as the trio were sentenced

Arbery’s mother is seen on January 7 as the trio were sentenced

Bernstein cited several messages posted on Facebook and elsewhere in which all three men used racial epithets.

She especially highlighted the words of Travis McMichael – who shot Arbery – who she said had made violent and racist statements on social media, including calling black people ‘monkeys’ and ‘subhuman savages.’ 

He had also told a friend that he was glad to have left the Coast Guard because he no longer had to work with or be around black people, she added.

She said the jury would hear from a witness how Gregory McMichael ‘went on a racist rant about black people.’

Bernstein said Bryan used a racial epithet in an online post after learning four days before Arbery’s death that his daughter was dating a black man. 

Defense attorneys for the three men said in their opening statements that they found their clients’ use of racial epithets deeply offensive, but emphasized it was no reason to convict them. 

Arbery is seen stumbling and falling to the ground after being shot by Travis McMichael

Arbery is seen stumbling and falling to the ground after being shot by Travis McMichael

They said the men were not motivated by Arbery’s race.

‘I can’t stand before you and say my client has never used the ‘N-word’,’ said Amy Copeland, the attorney for Travis McMichael. 

‘He did. He left a digital footprint over several years.’

But Copeland said Travis McMichael had chiefly been concerned with cases of theft that had left his neighborhood on high alert when he decided to chase down Arbery.

Trial experts said that the challenge for the prosecutors will be to back up the evidence of racist utterances with evidence that on the day of the shooting the three men were motivated by racial animus.

The court is scheduled to hear from Special Agent Richard Dial of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who has previously testified that Bryan told his office that Travis McMichael uttered a racial slur as Arbery lay dying.

Bryan’s attorney, Pete Theodocion, tried to distance his client from the McMichaels, saying that when he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery he assumed ‘he (Arbery) did something wrong, but not because of his race.’

Travis McMichael is seen in court on January 7 during his sentencing

Travis McMichael is seen in court on January 7 during his sentencing

Hate crimes are particularly hard to prove. 

Between 2005 and 2019, the Justice Department pursued just 17 percent of suspected hate crime cases for prosecution, according to a report released in July 2021. 

Travis McMichael said at a hearing last month that he was willing to plead guilty to attacking Arbery because of his ‘race and color’ after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors.

But he changed his mind after Judge Lisa Wood rejected the agreement, saying she could not accept it because it bound her to sentencing McMichael to 30 years in federal prison before he was handed back to the state of Georgia to serve out the rest of his life sentence for murder.

She said she needed more information to know whether a 30-year sentence was just, and cited emotional testimony from Arbery’s family.

The case is expected to last 12 days. 

source: dailymail.co.uk