The three men who were convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting were found guilty of federal hate crimes on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
- The three men — father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan — were found guilty of “violating Arbery’s civil rights and targeting him because he was Black,” per The Associated Press.
What happened: As CNN explains, the three men tried to chase Arbery and attempted to confine him using their trucks.
- “The three men spotted Arbery running by their homes in February 2020, and cornered him and Travis McMichael fatally shot him with a shotgun,” according to CNBC.
The argument: Prosecutors displayed text messages and social media posts that showed Travis McMichael and Bryan McMichael “used racist slurs and made derogatory comments about Black people,” according to The Associated Press.
The other side: The defense argued that the three men didn’t chase and kill Arbery because of his race.
- Rather, the defense said they “acted on the earnest, though erroneous, suspicion that Arbery had committed crimes in their neighborhood,” per The Associated Press.
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What’s next: The three men could receive life sentences for the federal conviction, according to CNN.