[Ahmaud Arbery]
AJC: “Racist social media posts and cellphone texts should be admitted into evidence at trial against the three men charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, state prosecutors said in a recent court filing.”
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Racist social media posts and cellphone texts should be admitted into evidence at trial against the three men charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, state prosecutors said in a recent court filing.
One reason to allow the evidence: “proof of motive,” prosecutors said.
The 25-year-old Arbery, a Black man, was chased down and killed with three shotgun blasts on Feb. 23 just outside of coastal Brunswick.
Three white men, Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shots; his father Greg McMichael, who initiated the chase; and William “Roddie” Bryan, who joined in the chase, stand indicted on malice murder and other charges.
Prosecutors say Arbery was jogging through the neighborhood the day he was killed. Attorneys for the McMichaels say their clients chased Arbery because they believed he may have been burglarizing a house under construction. Police said they found nothing on the unarmed Arbery that he might have stolen.
In the recent court filing, prosecutors said they want to introduce into evidence against Travis McMichael a “racial highway video Facebook post,” “a Racial Johnny Rebel Facebook post” and a racial text message, all posted or sent in 2019.
They seek to admit into evidence an “Identity Dixie Facebook post” and “Racial Johnny Rebel Facebook post” against Greg McMichael.
They also want to introduce unspecified racist messages extracted from Bryan’s cellphone. At a bond hearing in July, lead prosecutor Jesse Evans said Bryan repeatedly used the n-word in texts that contain “a ton of filth.”
GBI agent Richard Dial also previously testified that Bryan told investigators he heard Travis McMichael say the expletive-laden epithet, “f—ing n-word,” as he stood over the dying Arbery.
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