WaPo: “Opening arguments are expected Monday in the hate-crimes prosecution of three White men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery, a landmark federal case focused on whether the defendants were motivated to chase and threaten him because he was Black.
The trial of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan bookends, in a way, a racial-justice reckoning galvanized by the killing of another unarmed young Black man, Trayvon Martin, a decade ago. Itis the first time that defendants in one of the three high-profile 2020 killings that sparked nationwide protests have been accused directly of committing a crime based on racial animus.
The decision to put racism and hate at the center of the case against the McMichaels and Bryan — who already were convicted of murder in Georgia state court and sentenced to life in prison — has been widely applauded by civil rights advocates. They said a conviction in the federal courthouse in Brunswick, Ga., would send a strong deterrence message from the Justice Department: that hate crimes are a distinct threat because such acts can harm a broader group beyond the immediate victim.”