BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted last November of murdering Ahmaud Arbery will resume Monday morning with closing arguments and deliberations.
The jury is trying to determine if father and son: Gregory and Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan also violated Arbery's civil rights and killed him because of the color of his skin.
The three men were convicted of murdering Arbery last year in a state trial and each received life in prison as a result of Georgia minimum sentencing guidelines.
The trial began with testimony from neighbors and investigators last week. Throughout the course of the trial, the prosecution has been trying to establish racial motivation in the chase and murder of Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020.
Testimony presented last week included the viciously racist and at-times violent texts and social media posts of Travis McMichael, along with racist communications by Gregory McMichael and Bryan, and testimony from character witnesses.
Some of the evidence, including racially-charged texts and social media posts, presented during the federal trial wasn't included in the state trial.
The jury will also be looking at forensic evidence and autopsy photographs once deliberations begin.
One of the character witnesses to take the stand last week was a co-worker of Travis McMichael. She said she had received racist comments by Travis McMichael over her relationship with a Black man.
According to legal analyst Page Pate, the combination of these elements is enough evidence to find racial motivation for killing Arbery.
"So if you have defendants who are publicly at least within their group, their friends, their neighbors, their co-workers expressing racial hatred in those conversations then it's not a long jump to them committing a crime motivated by race," Pate said.
The court indicated Friday that closing arguments could take all day.