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Were Ahmaud Arbery's murderers racially motivated? U.S. federal trial will decide
The family hopes that evidence of racist language allegedly used by Travis McMichael, none of which was shown to the Glynn County jury, will finally be considered by the justice system, Crump said.
In pre-trial motions, state prosecutors told the court that they had evidence of "racial animus" motivating the defendants. At a bond hearing, they said Travis McMichael, 35, had used racial slurs on social media and in a text message.
At a pre-trial hearing, an investigator recounted Bryan telling him he heard McMichael used a slur as he stood over Arbery's body, although McMichael's lawyers raised doubts about Bryan's reliability.
Prosecutors also decided against showing the jury the vanity license plate the younger McMichael affixed to his pickup truck in 2020. The plate includes the old Georgia state flag, which prominently incorporates the Confederate battle flag.
Americans are divided over whether such symbols of those who fought against the abolition of slavery are a display of Southern pride or of white supremacy.
But none of that emerged in the trial's two weeks of testimony, even as race shaped public perception of the case, fueled in part by the repeated unsuccessful efforts of Kevin Gough, Bryan's attorney, to get Black pastors banned from the courtroom.
EVIDENCE IN FEDERAL TRIAL
At least some of this evidence, however, may feature in the federal trial.
"You better believe that a federal judge is going to be willing to hear evidence of racial animus, including specific text messages, when racial animus is a key element of the charge," said Ayesha Bell Hardaway, a director of Case Western Reserve University's Social Justice Institute.
The federal indictment charges the three men with hate crimes, saying they infringed Arbery's civil rights by chasing and killing him because he was Black, among other charges. It does not show what evidence prosecutors might present to convince a jury that racism played a role.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that there may be some overlap in witnesses between the two cases but they were otherwise independent of each other.
The family hopes that evidence of racist language allegedly used by Travis McMichael, none of which was shown to the Glynn County jury, will finally be considered by the justice system, Crump said.
In pre-trial motions, state prosecutors told the court that they had evidence of "racial animus" motivating the defendants. At a bond hearing, they said Travis McMichael, 35, had used racial slurs on social media and in a text message.
At a pre-trial hearing, an investigator recounted Bryan telling him he heard McMichael used a slur as he stood over Arbery's body, although McMichael's lawyers raised doubts about Bryan's reliability.
Prosecutors also decided against showing the jury the vanity license plate the younger McMichael affixed to his pickup truck in 2020. The plate includes the old Georgia state flag, which prominently incorporates the Confederate battle flag.
Americans are divided over whether such symbols of those who fought against the abolition of slavery are a display of Southern pride or of white supremacy.
But none of that emerged in the trial's two weeks of testimony, even as race shaped public perception of the case, fueled in part by the repeated unsuccessful efforts of Kevin Gough, Bryan's attorney, to get Black pastors banned from the courtroom.
EVIDENCE IN FEDERAL TRIAL
At least some of this evidence, however, may feature in the federal trial.
"You better believe that a federal judge is going to be willing to hear evidence of racial animus, including specific text messages, when racial animus is a key element of the charge," said Ayesha Bell Hardaway, a director of Case Western Reserve University's Social Justice Institute.
The federal indictment charges the three men with hate crimes, saying they infringed Arbery's civil rights by chasing and killing him because he was Black, among other charges. It does not show what evidence prosecutors might present to convince a jury that racism played a role.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement that there may be some overlap in witnesses between the two cases but they were otherwise independent of each other.
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