WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced federal hate crime charges Wednesday in the death of a Georgia man who was killed while out for a run last year.
The criminal case charging the three men in connection with the death of Ahmaud Arbery is the most significant civil rights prosecution undertaken to date by the Biden administration Justice Department. It comes as federal officials have moved quickly to open sweeping investigations into troubled police departments as civil rights takes center stage among the department’s priorities.
Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, and a third man, William “Roddie” Bryan, are all charged with one count of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels are also charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
Arbery, 25, was fatally shot while running through a neighborhood near Brunswick on the Georgia coast in February 2020. Video of the fatal encounter was recorded by William “Roddie” Bryan, a neighbor who joined the chase.
The father and son who pursued Arbery — Greg and Travis McMichael — weren’t arrested or charged until more than two months after the shooting. One prosecutor assigned to the case cited Georgia’s citizen arrest law to argue the shooting was justified.
Arbery had been dead for more than two months when the cellphone video of the shooting was leaked online May 5, 2020, and a national outcry erupted. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case the next day and swiftly arrested the trio of suspects.
The McMichaels’ lawyers have said they pursued Arbery, suspecting he was a burglar, after security cameras had previously recorded him entering a home under construction. They say Travis McMichael shot Arbery while fearing for his life as they grappled over a shotgun.
Local prosecutors have said Arbery stole nothing and was merely out jogging when the McMichaels and Bryan chased him.
The Justice Department alleges that the men “used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.”
At the time Arbery was killed, Georgia was one of just four U.S. states without a hate crimes law. Amid the outcry over his death, Georgia lawmakers quickly passed a law allowing for an additional penalty for certain crimes found to be motivated by a victim’s race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, or mental or physical disability.
The men charged with murdering Arbery won’t face hate crime penalties at the state level because the law was changed after the killing.
Attorneys for Travis McMichael said they were disappointed “that the Justice Department bought the false narrative that the media and state prosecutors have promulgated.”
“There is absolutely nothing in the indictment that identifies how this is a federal hate crime and it ignores without apology that Georgia law allows a citizen to detain a person who was committing burglaries until police arrive,” attorneys Bob Rubin and Jason Sheffield told The Associated Press.
Gregory McMichael’s attorneys, Frank and Laura Hogue, did not immediately respond Wednesday to an email seeking comment from the AP and Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, said he had no immediate comment because he had not read the federal indictment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
