All three white men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery while he ran through a Georgia neighborhood face life in prison.
The three men were charged with one count of malice, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony.
When the guilty verdicts were announced, people who crowded outside of the courtroom cheered. When the not guilty verdicts were read, they booed, local paper The Brunswick News reported. After the verdict ended, a victory celebration erupted. Arbery’s family, attorneys and supporters held hands and lifted them in jubilation.
“What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now,” the crowd chanted, along with “Say his name: Ahmaud Arbery.”
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The trio claimed they were attempting a citizen’s arrest when they chased and cornered Arbery, a Black man, in February 2020 in a mostly white neighborhood near the coastal Georgia town of Brunswick. Only Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery, was convicted of the most serious malice murder and all of the other charges.
Malice murder is when a person causes the death of someone with the intent to kill, whether it is impulsive to premeditated. Greg McMichael was convicted of all charges except malice murder.
All of the men were convicted of felony murder and false imprisonment, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit a felony. Defendants who commit a felony that leads to someone else dying are guilty of felony murder.
False imprisonment occurs when someone illegally detains, arrests, or confines another person and takes their personal liberty away.
