On Wednesday, a jury in Georgia found three men guilty in the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery during February 2020. For some background on the case, on the day of his murder, Arbery was jogging through a neighborhood in his community when three men, father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., mistook him for a burglar. Armed with guns, they chased him down and Travis McMichael ultimately killed him during their attempt at a citizens’ arrest. At first, nobody was arrested for the murder, and District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself due to a conflict of interest since Greg McMichael was a former investigator for her office, but allegedly showed favoritism towards the McMichaels, leading to her indictment in September for violating her oath of office and obstructing a law enforcement officer.
The case picked up momentum in May once a video filmed by Bryan surfaced where the three men were on camera fighting with and later killing Arbery. It sparked outrage all over the country, especially when people realized that nobody had been arrested. Two days after the video became available to the public, both of the McMichaels were arrested, and two weeks after that, Bryan was arrested. The three men faced nine charges: one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment, and one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. In the end, Travis McMichael was found guilty of malice murder, and the other two men were found guilty of felony murder, among other charges. Specifically, the jury found that Travis McMichael was guilty of all charges, Greg McMichael was found guilty of eight of the charges, and Bryan was found guilty of six charges. A date for their sentencing has not been set.
