BRUNSWICK, Ga. ― The three men convicted of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder chased the slain 25-year-old because of “racial assumption, racial resentment and racial anger,” a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday.
In his closing arguments, U.S. Justice Department counsel Christopher Perras asked the jury to convict Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan of chasing down Arbery on a public street and killing him because he was a Black man.
“There’s a big difference between being vigilant and being a vigilante,” Perras said, contending the three defendants were the latter. Their actions, he said, were “driven by pent-up racial anger.”
