Convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery already faced steep obstacles to finding unbiased jurors for their upcoming trial on federal hate crime charges.
. All three also were indicted in a separate federal hate crimes case, which alleges that the deadly chase violated Arbery's civil rights and that he was targeted because he was Black.
“I anticipate the jury selection process will be slow,” Wood said in court Monday. “I require that it be careful and methodical and thorough.” Legal filings and pretrial testimony indicate federal prosecutors plan to use text messages and social media posts to show the defendants had expressed racist views before the shooting.
“A defendant may appear to be bigoted and say terrible, off-color things in text messages, but can you translate that to why he pulled the trigger on a shotgun?” Moore said. "That’s a very different level of proof.” The McMichaels had planned to plead guilty to a hate crime charge after prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to propose a 30-year sentence that would include a request to transfer the McMichaels from Georgia’s state prison system to federal custody. Wood rejected the deal Monday, saying it would have locked her into a specific sentence. Arbery’s parents argued that conditions in federal prison wouldn’t be as harsh.
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