ATLANTA — A father and son convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery have filed paperwork to have their federal hate crimes convictions overturned.
Channel 2 Action News obtained a copy of the motion filed by lawyers Gregory and Travis McMichael in US District Court.
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According to the court documents, their attorneys argue the prosecution did not prove that Arbery was running on a public street the day he was killed in the Satilla Shores neighborhood.
The McMichaels attorneys say “The government’s evidence showed only that the developer offered to dedicate the Satilla Shores neighborhood streets to the county, but the county did not expressly or implicitly accept that offer. As a result, sufficient evidence does not support finding Glynn County ‘provided [or] administered a public street in the Satilla Shores neighborhood.’”
They also argue the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence for the hate crime charges.
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In November, a Georgia jury found the McMichaels and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan guilty in the 2020 murder of Arbery.
Two months later, a federal jury found all three men guilty of federal hate crimes for interference with rights and attempted kidnapping of Arbery. The verdicts came two years almost to the day that Arbery was killed.
Sentencing for the three men in the federal case has not been set, but the McMichaels filed their appeal on Tuesday.
Whatever the sentence that is handed down, those will be in addition to the life sentences already handed down by the state.
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