Hate crimes trial begins in Ahmaud Arbery killing

A federal hate crime trial for the three men already convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery began on Monday after jurors were sworn in.

In the morning, 12 jurors and four alternates were selected from a pool of 36 people after U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood and attorneys discussed the racial makeup of the group, according to The Associated Press.

The selections include eight white jurors, three Black jurors and one Hispanic juror. Three of the alternates are white, and there is also one Pacific Islander alternate, the AP reported.

“The diversity of having three Black jurors is encouraging and it’s significant,” Barbara Arnwine, an attorney for the Arbery family, said to the wire service. 

In the murder trial for the three men, the Georgia jury consisted of 11 white people and a single Black juror. 

Ultimately, that jury found all three men guilty of murdering Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased and killed while jogging on Feb. 23, 2020, by three white men in a Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood. 

Travis McMichael, 35, who fatally shot Arbery, his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, who was present for the shooting, and William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, who recorded the incident, were all found guilty on multiple counts of murder. 

All three men were sentenced to life in prison last month. The McMichaels were both sentenced to life without parole.

They have all pleaded not guilty to the federal hate crime charges they face, which accuse them of targeting Arbery because he was Black.

Their trial is expected to last seven to 12 days, the AP noted.