Federal Trial for Men Charged With Killing Ahmaud Arbery Set for 2022

By Teddy Grant Published: August 25, 2021

Federal Trial for Men Charged With Killing Ahmaud Arbery Set for 2022

This photo combo of images taken Thursday, May 7, 2020, and provided by the Glynn County Detention Center, in Georgia, show Gregory McMichael, left, and his son Travis McMichael. The two have been charged with murder in the February shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, whom they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood. (Glynn County Detention Center via AP)

The trial of three Georgia men charged with hate crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery will begin in February, a federal judge said on Wednesday.

In a written ruling, U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said that jury selection would begin Feb. 7 at a courthouse in Brunswick, according to the Associated Press.

The federal trial will come months after the men’s murder trial in Georgia’s state court. Their trial begins in October.

On Feb. 23, 2020, an armed Greg McMichael and his son Travis McMichael pursued Arbery in a pickup truck as he was running in their neighborhood. William Bryan, who also chased Arbery and took video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery, was also charged in the crime.

Their attorneys claim they have not committed any crimes and thought Arbery was a burglar and was making a citizen’s arrest.

In May, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp repealed the state’s citizen’s arrest law.