All three men charged over the death of jogger Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia have been convicted of murder.
The jury reached its decision after more than 10 hours of deliberations following a trial in which prosecutors argued that the defendants provoked a confrontation with Mr Arbery and defence attorneys said their clients were acting in self-defence.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael grabbed guns and jumped in a pick-up truck to pursue the 25-year-old black man after seeing him running in their neighbourhood outside the port city of Brunswick in February 2020.
Their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan joined the pursuit in his own pick-up and recorded phone video of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Mr Arbery.
Mr Arbery’s killing became part of a larger national reckoning on racial injustice after the graphic video leaked online two months later.
Though prosecutors did not argue that racism motivated the killing, federal authorities have charged all three men with hate crimes, alleging they chased and killed Mr Arbery because he was black.
All three defendants are white. They are scheduled to go on trial in February.
The men were charged with murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and attempted false imprisonment.
Moments after the verdicts were announced, Mr Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr, was seen crying and hugging supporters outside the courtroom.
“He didn’t do nothing,” the father said, “but run and dream.”
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