3 Georgia men plead not guilty to federal hate crimes in Ahmaud Arbery's killing
CBSN
Three Georgia men pleaded not guilty to federal hate crimes charges Tuesday in the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was pursued and gunned down as he jogged through a Brunswick neighborhood, reports CBS station WTOC. Travis McMichael, 35, his father Gregory McMichael, 65, and 51-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan, who are White, were already facing state counts when they were indicted on hate crime charges last week by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Georgia.
The three were charged with murder in the state case months after Arbery was killed. Bryan's disturbing cell phone video of the shooting spurred a national outcry. In the federal case, each were charged with one count of interference with rights and one count of attempted kidnapping. Travis and Gregory McMichael were charged with one count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence. Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery, was also charged with discharging a firearm.Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.