Hate crimes trial in Arbery killing will put racism up front

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The three white men sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery will soon face standing trial a second time. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, were sentenced Friday by a Georgia Superior Court judge. While that concludes the state’s murder case in the 25-year-old Black man’s slaying, they still face trial on federal hate crimes. Department of Justice prosecutors have charged them with violating Arbery’s civil rights when they chased the running Black man in pickup trucks in February 2020, a pursuit that ended with Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun. The federal case will feature evidence that Arbery’s killers were motivated by racism that didn’t come out in the state trial.