Was the killing of Ahmaud Arbery a hate crime? Jury hears closing arguments.

{{featured_button_text}} BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Before Ahmaud Arbery was chased by three white men in pickup trucks and fatally shot on a residential street, the trio had expressed hostility toward Black people in text messages and social media posts riddled with racist slurs.A jury of eight white people, three Black people and one Hispanic person was hearing closing arguments from prosecutors Monday morning in U.S. District Court, where the hate crimes trial over Arbery's death began a week ago.

The McMichaels and Bryan were all convicted of murder last fall in a Georgia state court. The U.S. Justice Department charged them separately in federal court with hate crimes, alleging that all three men violated Arbery's civil rights and targeted him because he's Black. They are also charged with attempted kidnapping, and the McMichaels face counts of using guns in the commission of a crime.

Defense attorneys have insisted that the trio pursued Arbery based on an earnest, though erroneous, suspicion that he had committed crimes in their neighborhood. Before the day of the shooting, security cameras had recorded Arbery several times inside a home under construction a few doors down from the McMichaels' house. Greg McMichael told police he recognized Arbery as he came running out of the same unfinished house the day of the shooting.

FBI agents uncovered roughly two dozen racist text messages and social media posts from the McMichaels and Bryan in the years and months preceding the shooting.

Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Closing Arguments To Begin In Hate Crimes Trial Of Men Who Killed Ahmaud ArberyA jury in Georgia is hearing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys on whether the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery was a federal hate crime.
Source: HuffPostWomen - 🏆 27. / 68 Read more »

Arbery Killer Used Racial Slur to Describe Daughter’s Black Date, Prosecutors SayProsecutors detailed several disturbing incidents of racist behavior on the first day of the federal hate crimes trial of the three Georgia men convicted of killing Arbery. No shock at all. What if for just 1 day all White ppl, who’ve called or referred to Blacks as the so-called N-word or think of Black ppl as “monkeys”, would just drop the act and confess ? It would be the beginning of truth & reconciliation.Til then we can pretend it’s a rare thing & act shocked These perpetrators are the lowest of the low.
Source: thedailybeast - 🏆 307. / 63 Read more »

Testimony wraps up in hate crimes trial over Arbery killingWitness testimony concluded yesterday in the hate crimes trial of three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery. Closing arguments are expected next week.
Source: wjxt4 - 🏆 246. / 63 Read more »