In Ahmaud Arbery Case, Judge Finds Probable Cause For Murder Charges Against 3 Men

TOPLINE

A judge found probable cause against three men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, after an explosive day of testimony in the first court appearance for the defendants which included allegations that Travis McMichael—the man who’s accused of shooting Arbery—had a history of using racist language and uttered a racial slur as he stood over Arbery’s corpse after the vigilante-style killing.

KEY FACTS

Arbery’s killing and the lethargic response by local authorities to arrest anyone sparked national outrage, with the father-and-son pair of Travis and Gregory McMichael arrested 74 days after the shooting, as the investigation ramped up after a video of the two white men chasing down Arbery—an unarmed 25-year-old black man—in a pickup truck and shooting him in a Brunswick, Georgia, neighborhood was sent to a local radio station and later widely shared online.

William Roddie Bryan, who recorded the video and is also charged with Arbery’s killing, told Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents under oath that Travis McMichael stood over Arbery and called him a “f*cking n——-,” according to testimony from lead investigator Richard Dial—a claim defense attorneys questioned.

Dial also testified investigators have found evidence Travis McMichael has used racist language many times in the past in text messages and social media posts, and once commented he loved his job in the Coast Guard because “there weren’t any n——— anywhere,” while he also kept a Confederate flag sticker on a tool box in the back of his pickup truck.

Dial said that there was a dent in the side of the pickup truck used to chase down Arbery, saying that the truck was used to hit the unarmed Arbery.

According to testimony, Travis McMichael told residents to “arm up” after burglaries in the Santilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, with the McMichaels telling police after the shooting that killing Arbery was a case of mistaken identity.

Arbery would regularly jog for recreation, Dial said, and neighbors have told investigators that he would often jog through Santilla Shores, with at least one saying they’d had conversations with Arbery as he jogged.

CRITICAL QUOTE

Arbery was “chased, hunted down and ultimately executed,” prosecutors said.

KEY BACKGROUND

Though the shooting took place on February 23, local authorities took 74 days to ultimately arrest the McMichaels, with the investigation only ramping up after the video was released on May 5. Bryan—the McMichaels’ neighbor—was not arrested until May 21. The U.S. Department of Justice is now looking into bringing federal hate crime charges in the case, after a request from Georgia’s attorney general.

The outrage over Arbery’s killing precipitated further anger over racial injustice when George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer held his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes. Since Floyd’s killing, protests have regularly been held in cities across the U.S., with some turning to riots after clashes with police forces.

WHAT WE DON’T KNOW

While the claim that Travis McMichael made a racial slur while over Arbery’s body is shocking and would help make the case there were racist motivations behind the shooting, it’s not clear whether that statement will actually appear before a jury should the case go to trial, a Georgia-based legal analyst said.

CHIEF CRITIC

A defense attorney made the point Thursday that Bryan had never said Travis McMichael made the racist statement before an interview with investigators on May 13, even though he had been interviewed several times before that date.

An attorney for the McMichaels has also previously said the men are not guilty of either murder or hate crimes, saying, “This is not some sort of hate crime fueled by racism.”

FURTHER READING

Third Person Charged With Murder Of Ahmaud Arbery (Forbes)

DOJ to consider possible federal hate crime charges in Ahmaud Arbery shooting (NBC News)

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