The three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery were found guilty of federal hate crimes and other lesser charges.
After deliberating for less than four hours, the jury found that father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because he was Black.
The trio was also found guilty of attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels received an additional guilty verdict for the use of a firearm in the commission of a crime.
During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors text messages and social media posts, which showed that all three men used racist slurs and made derogatory comments about Black people.
“We got justice for Ahmaud in the federal and the state,” Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, said outside of the courtroom.
The verdict comes one day before the second anniversary of Arbery’s death on Feb. 23, 2020.
“Ahmaud will continue to rest in peace but he will now rest in power,” Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones said. “It’s another milestone, another challenge that we’ve overcome. Today is Super Tuesday. We got a guilty verdict on all charges for all murderers. They gave us a sense of a small victory. We as a family will never get victory because Ahmaud is gone forever.”
Cooper-Jones also called out the Department of Justice for reaching a plea deal with the three men ahead of the trial. The plea deal was ultimately rejected by the judge.
“I’m very thankful that you guys brought these charges of hate crime, but back on Jan. 31, you guys accepted a plea deal with these three murderers who took my son’s life,” Cooper-Jones said.
