More than a year and a half after the killing of the black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in the US state of Georgia, the three white perpetrators have been found guilty on most of the charges. The defendant Travis M., who shot Arbery, was found guilty of the murder by the jury. The verdict was read out in court in Brunswick.
The two co-defendants, the father of the shooter Gregory M. and her neighbor William B., who were both involved in the prosecution of Arbery, were each found guilty of aggravated assault and manslaughter, among other things. The sentence for the accused will be determined at a later date. They face life imprisonment. In the state of Georgia, the same sentence applies to murder and various crimes that would be equivalent to manslaughter under German law.
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot and killed while jogging in the southern state in February 2020. But initially nobody was arrested. The investigation only really got going when the case gained national and international attention in the spring through a disturbing cell phone video of the crime. A little later – on May 25, 2020 – the African American George Floyd was killed in a brutal police operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Afterwards there were protests against racism and also against police violence in the USA for months.
According to the investigators, the defendants had initially followed the black jogger Arbery in Brunswick with their vehicle and then threatened them with firearms. According to the autopsy report, he was shot twice in the chest at close range. According to the investigation, William B. was involved in the persecution and filmed the crime. The defense argued that the men followed Arbery for mistaking him for a burglar.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, welcomed the verdict in front of the courthouse. Regarding her son, she said, “He will rest in peace now.” Attorney Ben Crump said the ruling marked a triumph of justice for the United States.