actbox-What are the charges in the Ahmaud Arbery hate-crimes case?

[February 21, 2022]  By Rich McKay

(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are expected to sum up for a jury on Monday why they have brought hate-crimes charges against three white men who were convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in a mostly white neighborhood in Georgia in 2020.

A state court found Travis McMichael, 36, his father Gregory McMichael, 66, and neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, guilty of murder and other charges. All were sentenced to life in prison, with only Bryan given possibility of parole after 30 years.

The prosecution and defense teams finished presenting their cases Friday in a federal hate-crimes trial and closing arguments were set for Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia.

WHAT IS A FEDERAL HATE CRIME?

A federal hate crime is a criminal act committed based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and or gender identity.

GREGORY MCMICHAEL

* Interference with rights - a hate crime - specifically for "willfully, by force and threat of force, injure, intimidate and interfere with Ahmaud Arbery, an African American man, because of Arbery's race and color." The charge carries a maximum of life in prison.

A mural of Ahmaud Arbery is painted on the side of the Brunswick African American Cultural Center in downtown Brunswick, Georgia, U.S. October 11, 2021. REUTERS/ Christopher Aluka Berry//File Photo

* Attempted kidnapping, punishable by 20 years in prison.

* Brandishing a firearm, punishable by seven years in prison.

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL

* Interference with rights - a hate crime - specifically for "willfully, by force and threat of force, injure, intimidate and interfere with Ahmaud Arbery, an African American man, because of Arbery's race and color." The charge carries a maximum of life in prison.

* Attempted kidnapping, punishable by 20 years in prison.

* Brandishing and discharging a firearm, punishable by 10 years in prison.

WILLIAM "RODDIE" BRYAN

* Interference with rights - a hate crime - specifically for "willfully, by force and threat of force, injure, intimidate and interfere with Ahmaud Arbery, an African American man, because of Arbery's race and color." The charge carries a maximum of life in prison.

* Attempted kidnapping, punishable by 20 years in prison.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Alistair Bell and Diane Craft)

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