Defendants Found Guilty In Murder Of Ahmaud Arbery

The jury has returned in the case of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan, who were charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

The case addressed the question of whether the murder was racially-motivated, as three white men in pickup trucks pursued a young Black man on foot, because they concluded he could have been stealing from a construction site, despite not actually witnessing any such theft nor having any invitation from the property owner to serve as private security. Specific incidents in the trial included the defendants trying to keep the jury from hearing about a Confederate flag license plate on the truck the McMichaels men used, and an attorney for the defense having to be called down by the court for his complaints about “Black preachers” being allowed in the courtroom.

According to NPR, all three men were initially facing nine charges each:

[O]ne count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony.

All were found guilty on most of the charges. Travis McMichael, who wielded the shotgun, was found guilty on all charges, while his father, Greg McMichael, received a not guilty verdict on a single charge, of malice murder. Their neighbor, William Bryan, who followed and filmed the encounter, received not guilty verdicts on three of the nine counts: one of malice murder, one of felony murder, and one of aggravated assault.

In the clip below, you can see Arbery’s family responding to the verdict.

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“I never thought this day would come but god is good” pic.twitter.com/944jBsoGtA

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