Guilty Verdict in Federal Hate Crimes Trial for Men who Murdered Ahmaud Arbery Sets Historic Legal Precedent


     On February 22nd, 2022, just three hours after they began deliberations and the day before the two-year anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery's murder, a jury found Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan guilty of a hate crime in the murder of Arbery.

     The trio were each founding guilty of depriving Arbery of his civil rights (a hate crime) and attempted kidnapping, while the McMichaels were each also convicted of federal firearms charges. They were found guilty of murder on November 24th, 2021, and sentenced to life plus 20 years without parole for the McMichaels and life with parole after 30 years for Roddie Bryan in state court on January 7th, 2022. However, because Georgia did not have a hate crime statute at the time, race, which has always played a central role in the case, was not confirmed to be the motivating factor until today.

     The defendants had a long history of racism: Greg McMichael reportedly told a coworker at the local sheriff’s department in 2015 that he wished "[civil rights activists] would all just die," calling them, "nothing but trouble." He also had a penchant for vigilantism, saying, "a gun in the hand is worth more than a whole police force on the phone." Travis McMichael called a subordinate a "n****r lover" after she brought up the fact that her boyfriend was black; he commented frequently on social media calling black people "savages" and "criminals" and advocating for violence against them. Just days before murdering Arbery, Roddie Bryan said of his daughter dating a black man, "if she doesn't care about herself, why should we care about her?" He even called the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Parade the "Monkey Day Parade."

     A guilty verdict means they will each likely be sentenced to life in prison, which doesn't change much. It does, however, establish an important legal principle: implicit bias is enough of a factor to determine whether or not something is a hate crime. The defense shot themselves in the foot by bringing up the fact that the men had previously confronted a homeless man in 2019: that homeless man was white, and he is very much alive and breathing after the men suspected him of the very same thing they suspected Arbery of doing. The defense claimed they thought Arbery was a criminal, and that actually helped the prosecution: the McMichaels and Roddie Bryan thought and still think that all black people are criminals and that all criminals deserve to die. That is racism, and it is the first time that men have been convicted of a crime motivated by implicit bias in the courtroom. This is truly a historic moment!

     One more thing: don't blame the Department of Justice for the plea agreement rejected in late January and early February. They asked the Arbery family attorney, Lee Merritt, and he said he was not opposed to a plea deal. The lack of communication between Merritt and the victim's family is not the fault of the DOJ.

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