- Fewer than 1 in 5 suspects of federal hate crime-related cases are prosecuted, according to the Justice Department.
- The state murder trial did not delve into issues of race, which some argued ‘whitewashed’ the case that many had called a modern-day lynching.
- Arbery’s family pushed strongly against plea deals for the men and pressured attorneys to prosecute the case.
The sentencing of three white Georgia men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery marks the conclusion of a federal hate crimes case that legal experts say finally acknowledged the racist motivations of what many called a modern-day lynching.
A jury in February found father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan guilty of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping in the murder of Arbery nearly two years before. The three men were already serving life in prison on state convictions.