Two of the three Georgia men convicted of the 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery argue that his history of using racist language does not mean his actions amount to 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,” defense attorney Pete Theodocion said in an appeal brief Submitted on behalf of William “Roddie” Bryan.
Bryan, Greg McMichael and their son, Travis McMichael, are appealing the federal hate crimes for which they were convicted in February 2022.
The McMichaels each received two life sentences in August. They chased the 25-year-old jogger in his truck before the elder McMichael shot Arbery with a shotgun.
Bryan, who joined the manhunt and filmed Arbery’s murder, received a life sentence. He will be eligible for parole in 2052 at the age of 82.
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The trio, who said they suspected Arbery of stealing from a construction site, denied that their pursuit of Arbery was motivated by race.
Greg McMichael’s attorney argued in Friday’s brief that the fact that Arbery was black was “not important” to his client, despite witness testimony once saying: “All those blacks are nothing but trouble.” .
( Ahmaud Arbery’s killers often used racial slurs: prosecutors )
Text messages submitted by prosecutors showed that Bryan and the McMichaels had used racist language in dozens of text messages and social media posts.
In response to video of a black man pulling a prank on a white man, Travis McMichael once wrote on Facebook: “I’d kill that f—-ing n—-r.”
However, the younger McMichael did not question whether racism was a factor in Arbery’s murder. Instead, he focused his appeal on logistical technicalities in the prosecution’s case.
Meanwhile, prosecutors argued that “repressed racial anger” motivated Arbrey’s killers.
with cable news services
