Ahmaud Arbery verdict: all three white men found guilty of murdering black man while jogging – live | US news

Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, writes:

McMichaels and Bryan are still on trial for hate crimes in a federal court in February. The Justice Department claims the men “used force and threats of force to intimidate and intervene in Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race”.

None of the men found guilty of murdering Arbery were charged before eyewitness accounts were released months after the 25-year-old was killed, a point pointed out by Keith Boykin, author of Race Against Time: The Politics of and Darkening America.

That the minimum penalty for malicious murder and for aggravated murder is life imprisonment, Associated Press reported:

It is up to the judge to decide whether it comes with or without the possibility of parole. Although the possibility of parole is given, a person convicted of murder must serve 30 years before being acquitted.

“The conviction for felony murder and malicious murder is exactly the same,” said Ron Carlson, a law professor at the University of Georgia.

“It’s a distinction without distinction in terms of punishment.”

Murder can also be punishable by death in Georgia if the killing meets certain criteria and the prosecutor chooses to seek the death penalty. The prosecutors in this case did not.

Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William Bryan have been found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery.

The three men chased Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, through their neighborhood on February 23, 2020, before Travis McMichael shot and killed him.

Travis McMichael was found guilty of malicious murder and felony murder. Greg McMichael, his father, was not found guilty of malicious murder, but guilty of aggravated murder.

Bryan was not found guilty of malicious murder, but guilty of aggravated murder.

The men were also found guilty of several other charges, including aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a crime.

According to Georgia law, malicious murder is when a person “illegally and with malice in advance, either expressly or implicitly, causes another person’s death”.

Criminal homicide applies when a person who has no plans to kill intentionally commits another crime and a person dies as a result. The person must be convicted of the underlying crime for being found guilty of murder.

William Bryan is not found guilty of malicious murder, but guilty of three counts of felony murder.

Greg McMichael found not guilty of malicious murder, guilty of felony murder.

The jury in the trial against three men in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery returns to court, with an impending verdict.

Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael seized weapons and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck after seeing the 25-year-old black man running in their neighborhood on February 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, participated in the chase and captured Travis McMichael, who opened fire as Arbery threw blows and grabbed his shotgun.

Defense attorneys said the men suspected Arbery had broken into a house under construction and intended to keep him until police arrived.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence that Arbery committed any crimes in the neighborhood, and no evidence has been presented linking Arbery to any burglary. They said the men chased Arbery for five minutes and used their trucks to prevent him from escaping before Travis McMichael shot him.

All three men are charged with malicious murder and felony murder as well as false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a crime. If convicted, they could face life in prison.

The jury in the case is almost entirely white, and race has been a central theme in the case and the trial.

We follow the development here.

Here is a look at the case from before the trial began, by our Southern bureau chief, Oliver Laughland: