Hate Crimes Trial to Proceed After Failed Plea Deal With Arbery’s Killers – The New York Times

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After several minutes, the men used their trucks to hem Mr. Arbery in. A clash ensued between Mr. Arbery and Travis McMichael, who shot Mr. Arbery three times with a shotgun at close range.

Evidence that the men harbored racist sentiments has surfaced in pretrial motions and hearings. A September 2020 filing in the state case indicated that the state of Georgia had gathered evidence including “racial” Facebook posts and text messages from Travis McMichael and Mr. Bryan, and what were described as a “racial Johnny Rebel Facebook post” and an “Identity Dixie Facebook post” from Gregory McMichael.

These and a number of other instances could now take center stage in the federal trial after the state jury was given no opportunities to consider them. But some legal experts say that it may prove difficult for federal prosecutors to win convictions on the hate crime charges, even though there will be little doubt that the men made racist statements before they chased Mr. Arbery.

“It’s not just proving that they’re racists, and not just proving that they killed Ahmaud Arbery without justification,” Page Pate, a Georgia lawyer and legal analyst, said. “It’s proving that their racism is the reason they killed Ahmaud Arbery.”

At Monday’s hearing, which focused on Travis McMichael’s proposed plea deal, the government articulated a nuanced position about the way racism motivated him.

“Travis McMichael did not belong to any hate groups, and did not set out on Feb. 23, 2020, to carry out an act of violence against an African American person,” said Tara M. Lyons, assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “But he had made assumptions about Ahmaud Arbery that he would not have made if Ahmaud Arbery had been white.”

Travis McMichael’s lawyer, Amy Lee Copeland, declined to comment on Thursday evening, as did J. Pete Theodocion, the lawyer for Mr. Bryan.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/us/gregory-mcmichael-trial-ahmaud-arbery.html

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