Ahmaud Arbery’s family and their attorneys told the media they were optimistic after a hearing in federal court to appeal the hate crime convictions against the three white men who killed Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in a south Georgia neighborhood in 2020.
Arbery’s family and attorney attended an appeal hearing in federal court in Atlanta on Thursday where lawyers for Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and their friend William “Roddie” Bryan formally asked a judge to vacate their convictions on charges that they violated Arbery’s civil rights.
“One thing you heard the judges referring to over and over again, was a jury heard the evidence, the jury made the decision, and the jury had a basis for making the decision,” said Barbara Arnwine, the Arbery family’s attorney and founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition.
In February 2020, the McMichaels and Bryan chased and killed Arbery, who was jogging for exercise through a residential neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia. The McMichaels received life sentences and Bryan was given a 35-year sentence for the federal hate crime convictions.
In a separate state trial on murder charges, the father and son were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 20 years, while Bryan was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
The Arbery family’s attorneys said they expect the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the three men’s convictions, but they’re prepared for it to take weeks or months for an official ruling to come down. While the federal court considers the current appeal, the McMichaels and Bryan also have a June 5 hearing on the state charges before the Georgia Court of Appeals.
“As long as I’m alive, me and my family are gonna fight,” said Marcus Arbery, Ahmaud’s father.
Arbery coined the phrase “100% justice for Ahmaud,” which was chanted by the family and their supporters outside the 11th Circuit Courthouse in downtown Atlanta in reference to the upcoming trial of former Brunswick Judicial Court District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who is accused of interfering in the investigation into Arbery’s death.
Though Johnson recused herself from the case, it was later revealed by a Glynn County commissioner that she had instructed officers in the Glynn County Police Department not to arrest Gregory McMichael, who had previously worked as an investigator in her office.
“She’s the head, she’s the one that let the McMichaels think they can kill Black people,” Arbery told Capital B Atlanta.
