Rich McKay and Jonathan Allen

BRUNSWICK (Ga.) – Three white men were found guilty Wednesday of killing Ahmaud Arbery while he was running through his Georgia neighborhood. However, they still have to face another trial: a Federal Trial in February. The men are charged with Arbery’s murder because he is Black.

The question was barely raised during the state trial for Gregory McMichael’s son Travis McMichael. It wasn’t even discussed by the jury.

Benjamin Crump is a civil-rights lawyer who represented the Arbery Family. Crump said that federal trials were his last opportunity to see the truth about what he calls a “crux”.

He said, “This was predicated upon the color Ahmaud’s skin,” outside of the courtroom as the verdict was read at the Glynn County Superior Court Brunswick (NYSE:).

It is located just miles away from Arbery’s home on February 23, 2020, where they chased him and then shot him with their shotgun. They will be sentenced for state murder and could spend their entire lives in prison.

Crump expressed hope that Travis McMichael’s racially charged statements, which were not shown to the Glynn County juror, would be considered in the final analysis by the justice system.

Pre-trial motions were made by state prosecutors who stated to the court they had evidence that the defendants had “racial animus”. The bond hearing heard that Travis McMichael (35) had used racial insults in social media as well as in a text.

An investigator told Bryan that McMichael had used a slur while standing over Arbery’s corps. McMichael lawyers raised questions about Bryan’s reliability at the hearing.

The jury was also not shown the vanity plate McMichael attached to his truck in 2020 by the prosecution, which the prosecutor decided against. It also contains the Georgia old state flag which features prominently the Confederate battle emblem.

Americans disagree on whether these symbols are an expression of Southern pride or white supremacy.

However, none of these issues emerged over the trial’s 2 weeks of testimony. Despite the fact that race had a significant impact on public perceptions of the case, partly due to the unsuccessful attempts of Bryan’s lawyer, Kevin Gough, to ban Black pastors from the courtroom,

EVIDENCE IN FEDERAL TRIAL

A federal trial may include at least some of the evidence.

Ayesha Hardaway is the director of Case Western Reserve University’s Social Justice Institute. She stated, “You better believe that an federal judge is going be willing to hear evidence racial animus including specific text messages when racial animus was a key element in the charge.”

According to the federal indictment, three of them are charged with hate crime. They were accused of chasing Arbery and shooting him dead because he was Black. This indictment doesn’t show the evidence that prosecutors could present to convince jurors of racism.

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that although there was some overlap between these cases’ witnesses, they are independent.

Three federal defendants were represented by lawyers who either refused or didn’t respond to inquiries for comment.

The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office did not present the evidence of “racial animus”, due to a variety of factors.

One of its pre-trial motions stated that the prosecutors had made a decision to “strategic” not to present some communications among defendants with other people they believed contained racist language.

Some legal experts pointed out that Georgia had no hate crime statutes in effect at the time. The fact that no of the charges were based on the proof of racial motivation may indicate that prosecutors decided not to pursue the case, particularly after the defense attorneys succeeded in striking every Black member from the jury.

Hardaway stated that “the prosecution in that community will not alienate that almost all-white juror.” The fact that the federal trial would be held may have provided state prosecutors with some comfort, she stated.