(The Slice): The federal trial began on Monday for the men who were convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery. Testimony began Tuesday trial of Travis McMichael, his father Greg and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan. Bryan and the younger McMichael share a mutual hatred toward Black people beyond the case that landed them in court. The men were convicted of Arbery’s murder in a state trial last fall. This time their history of using race related hate speech. They are on trial once again to determine if their actions were a hate crime, a federal offense. Ultimately, this case is set to determine if Ahmaud Arbery was killed because he was Black.
FBI Intelligence Analyst Amy Vaughn testified that she found a trail of racial insults from the men who had claimed they were only acting to protect their neighborhood when they killed the 25-year-old. Vaughn testified on Wednesday that the men used racial slurs, shared racist memes and made violent comments about Black people.
But, Travis McMichael and Roddie Bryan frequently both used racial epithets in their communications on social media and in text messages. Degrading Black people seemed to be natural for them during a nearly 10-year period of evidence that was presented.
Investigators were able to provide proof that the two men repeatedly used the n-word and repeatedly expressed hate and disgust toward Blacks in separate instances. McMichaeld regularly called Black people "savages" and "monkeys."
It has already been mentioned in the previous that the n-word was used when Arbery was killed and that Bryan
The defense attorney representing the men acknowledged that her clients use of racial slurs in the past was ignorant, but argued it was not a factor that clouded their judgement and actions on the day they decided to follow the Georgia jogger, harass and murder him.
The goal of prosecutors is to show that the defendants' words and actions can not be separated.