Ahmaud Arbery’s killers get a March court date to argue appeals of their hate crime convictions

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Three white men convicted of hate crimes for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood in 2020 will have their appeals heard by a federal court in March. The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta is scheduled to hear oral arguments March 27 by attorneys for father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan. A jury convicted the three white men of federal hate crimes in 2022, concluding they pursued and fatally shot Arbery a year earlier because he was Black. Defense attorneys argue that evidence of past racist comments by two of the men don’t prove Arbery was targeted because of his race.