By RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the hate crime convictions of three white men who chased Ahmaud Arbery through their Georgia subdivision with pickup trucks before one of them killed the running Black man with a shotgun.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took well over a year to rule after attorneys for the defendants urged the judges in March 2024 to overturn the case, arguing the men’s history of racist text messages and social media posts failed to prove they targeted Arbery because of his race.
Federal prosecutors used those posts and messages in 2022 to persuade a jury that Arbery’s killing was motivated by “pent-up racial anger.”
Even if the appeals judges had thrown out their hate-crime convictions, the trio faced no immediate reprieve from prison. That’s because they’re also serving life terms for murder after being convicted in a Georgia state court.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and used a pickup truck to pursue 25-year-old Arbery after spotting him running in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range.
More than two months passed without arrests, until Bryan’s graphic video of the killing leaked online. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police as outrage over Arbery’s death became part of a national outcry over racial injustice. Charges soon followed.
All three men were convicted of murder by a state court in late 2021. After a second trial in U.S. District Court in early 2022, a jury found the trio guilty of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping.
Greg McMichael’s attorney, A.J. Balbo, declined to comment on the appellate ruling. Attorneys for Bryan and Travis McMichael did not immediately return phone and email messages.
Related Posts:
- Feds ask appeals court to block 'extraordinary' order restricting use of force against protesters News The Trump administration Monday asked Chicago’s federal appeals court to block a lower court’s sweeping order restricting agents’ use of force against protesters and journalists during the feds’ aggressive deportation campaign here. The Justice Department complained to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis…
- Neo-Nazi leader resurfaces in Petaluma, faces lawsuit over violent hate rally in Tennessee News Jon Minadeo II, the North Bay’s most notorious neo-Nazi, has resurfaced in Petaluma after several years living out of state, trailed by a federal lawsuit accusing him and his associates of violent hate crimes. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that monitors extremist groups, has sued Minadeo, his organization…
- Neo-Nazi leader resurfaces in Petaluma, faces lawsuit over violent hate rally in Tennessee News Jon Minadeo II, the North Bay’s most notorious neo-Nazi, has resurfaced in Petaluma after several years living out of state, trailed by a federal lawsuit accusing him and his associates of violent hate crimes. The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that monitors extremist groups, has sued Minadeo, his organization…
- Epstein emails reveal enduring ties with influential figures even after his sex crime conviction News By JESSE BEDAYN, Associated Press By the time Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, he had established an enormous network of wealthy and influential friends. Emails made public this week show the crime did little to diminish the desire of that network to stay…
- Opinion: California study is asking crime survivors what we need News When I was 12 years old, my sister, Polly Klaas, was kidnapped from our bedroom and murdered. In the aftermath, I watched lawmakers use grieving families — ours included — to sell the public on legislative policies that had already been written. Polly’s name became synonymous with fear. And California’s…
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)