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.

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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.