The three men convicted in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder are appealing the hate crime convictions.
In February 2022, father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were found guilty in a federal hate crimes trial. The McMichaels had already been sentenced to life in prison in a state trial for Arbery’s Feb. 2020 shooting death. Bryan was sentenced to 35 years. They are now appealing the hate crime convictions.
According to CNN, their attorneys filed the appeals earlier this month. An attorney for Gregory McMichael, the father, and Bryan wrote, “The evidence against Bryan did not present a man who saw the world through a prism of racism. He was not obsessed with African Americans such as his codefendant Travis McMichael.”
The attorney continued, “There is simply not sufficient evidence in the record to suggest Bryan would have acted any differently on the day in question had Arbery been white, Hispanic, Asian or other Every crime committed against an African American is not a hate crime. Every crime committed against an African American by a man who has used racist language in the past is not a hate crime.”
Travis McMichael’s appeal does not deny racial motivation for the shooting, but questions if the state proved Arbery was pursued and killed on public streets.
On Feb. 23, 2020, McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan chased Arbery, 25, in pickup trucks while he jogged in their Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood. After cornering Arbery, a video recorded by Bryan showed Travis McMichael shooting him at close range. Despite the pursuers’ allegations, they thought Arbery was a burglar, authorities ruled he was unarmed and had committed no crimes.
A jury found the three defendants guilty in November 2021 of murdering Arbery.
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