GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — The three Georgia men accused with the death of unarmed Black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, are now facing federal hate crime charges.
According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, a grand jury moved to indict 65-year-old Gregory McMichael; his son, 35-year-old Travis McMichael, and 51-year-old William Bryan on Wednesday.
Each of the men face one count of interfering with rights and one count of attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels also face an extra charge of using a firearm during a crime of violence.
Those charges are in addition to Georgia state charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
Case History
Arbery, who was 25 at the time, was shot and killed on Feb. 23, 2020. Cellphone video of the shooting emerged more than two months later, which led to the arrest and charges of the suspects in the case.
Defendants told police they thought Arbery was the person responsible for a series of home burglaries in the Satilla Shores neighborhood.
The shooting has been decried by activists as a vigilante murder, and there is no evidence Arbery was ever connected to any kind of burglary.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder charges and remain in jail without bond.
A hearing in the Georgia case is scheduled for May 12 and 13 at 10 a.m. in the Glynn County Courthouse. A trial date has not been set.
The case was responsible for a push to overhaul Georgia's hate crime and citizen's arrest laws.
The hate crime law was signed in June 2020. Prior to that Georgia was only one of 4 states without a hate crime law.
The measure imposes additional penalties for crimes motivated by a victim's race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender or disability.
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