Federal hate crime trial in Ahmaud Arbery's death ends in guilty verdicts

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (NBC) – A verdict has been reached in the federal hate crime trial of the three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery in south Georgia.

All of this happened very quickly. It took a jury about three hours or so. They had just begun a day of deliberations this morning and they came back with verdicts: guilty on all counts.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William “Rodie” Bryan were found guilty of violating Ahmaud Arbery’s civil rights, a conviction that carries a possible life sentence.

Gregory and Travis McMichael were also guilty of attempted kidnapping and guilty of using a firearm for a crime of violence. Travis McMichael is the defendant who fired the fatal shot.

The prosecution argued that these men were motivated by racial hatred, that they went after Ahmaud Arbery because of the color of his skin and for essentially no other reason.

The issue wasn’t whether they murdered him or not, it was why. And these guilty verdicts convict them of a hate crime.