Judge Denies Bond to Father and Son Charged With Killing Ahmaud Arbery

Source: New York Times

Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs 2 hrs ago

The New York Times

A judge denied bond on Friday to the white father and son charged with murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man shot by the son after they chased him down a quiet road in Georgia.

The decision came on the second day of hearings over whether the men, Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael, should be freed on bail as they await trial over the Feb. 23 killing, which was captured on video by a third man, William Bryan, who has also been charged with murder. Mr. Arbery’s mother wailed in the courtroom on Friday as prosecutors showed a video of the shooting.

The Arbery killing initially received little attention, but after The New York Times published an article about the case and the video of the killing was leaked, the men were arrested in May. Many activists saw the more than two-month delay between the killing and the men’s arrest as a sign of corruption and racial bias, and the Arbery case was frequently referred to by protesters at the racial justice demonstrations that swept the United States over the summer.

Bond hearings rarely last longer than a few hours, but prosecutors and defense lawyers introduced a trove of evidence during the public hearings this week that shed new light on the case. Jesse Evans, a prosecutor who is trying the case, read messages on Thursday that he said were written by Travis McMichael, who the authorities have said shot Mr. Arbery. Mr. Evans said he had once used an anti-Asian slur on Facebook and, in a text message to a friend in November 2019, had talked about shooting somebody while using an anti-Black slur and stereotypes.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/judge-denies-bond-to-father-and-son-charged-with-killing-ahmaud-arbery/ar-BB1aZoeF?li=BBnb7Kz