Defense rests in hate crimes trial of men who killed Ahmaud Arbery
The defense rested Friday after calling only one witness in the federal hate crimes trial of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan, who were convicted in November of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, The Washington Post reported.
The three have already been sentenced to life in prison. The McMichaels' sentences offer no possibility of parole, while Bryan will be eligible for parole after 30 years.
The defense argued the three white men who chased Arbery down in pick-up trucks and shot him while he was out jogging, were motivated by concerns about neighborhood crime, not racial animus.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The prosecution called 20 witnesses, including an FBI intelligence analyst, who said the three men routinely made racist remarks, both in person and via text and Facebook messages.
According to CNN, one witness said Gregory McMichael told her, "All these Blacks are nothing but trouble. I wish they'd all die." Another said Travis McMichael called her a "n----rlover" after learning she'd once dated a Black man, per the Post. Bryan also reportedly used the n-word when describing how upset he was about his daughter dating a Black man.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
Tips for surviving loneliness during the holiday season — with or without peoplethe week recommends Solitude is different from loneliness
-
‘This is where adaptation enters’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
4 signs you have too much credit card debtthe explainer Learn to recognize the red flags
-
France makes first arrests in Louvre jewels heistSpeed Read Two suspects were arrested in connection with the daytime theft of royal jewels from the museum
-
Trump pardons crypto titan who enriched familySpeed Read Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty in 2023 to enabling money laundering while CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange
-
Thieves nab French crown jewels from LouvreSpeed Read A gang of thieves stole 19th century royal jewels from the Paris museum’s Galerie d’Apollon
-
Arsonist who attacked Shapiro gets 25-50 yearsSpeed Read Cody Balmer broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion and tried to burn it down
-
Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Firespeed read 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht has been arrested in connection with the fire that killed 12 people
-
4 dead in shooting, arson attack in Michigan churchSpeed Read A gunman drove a pickup truck into a Mormon church where he shot at congregants and then set the building on fire
-
2 kids killed in shooting at Catholic school massSpeed Read 17 others were wounded during a morning mass at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis
-
Australian woman found guilty of mushroom murdersspeed read Erin Patterson murdered three of her ex-husband's relatives by serving them toxic death cap mushrooms
