Ahmaud Arbery’s father breaks down in cheers after a jury finds 3 men guilty of murder

The three white men on trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery were all found guilty of felony murder on Wednesday, reports News about BuzzFeed.

Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, died in 2020 when Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan chased and encountered Arbery while he was walking. escape. Three men chased him in a truck, and Travis McMichael fatally shot him. The younger McMichael was convicted of all nine counts he faces, including malicious murder, felony murder and aggravated assault.

Greg McMichael was convicted of four counts of murder and aggravated assault, among other counts, but not found guilty of malicious murder. Bryan was convicted of some of the more serious counts of murder and assault, but pardoned others, and was acquitted of malicious murder. All three now face life sentences in prison, reports BuzzFeed.

As Judge Timothy Walmsley read the verdict, cheers could be heard from the courtroom. CNN reported that the person who cheered and was subsequently removed from the courtroom at Walmsley’s request was Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said outside the courtroom that she “never thought this day would come.” “It’s been a long fight. It’s been a tough fight,” she said, thanking everyone who “fought with us.”

Father Al Sharpton also made comments after the ruling. “And let that word spread around the world, that a jury of eleven whites and one black man in the Deep South stood up in the courtroom and said that black lives are in danger,” he said. important meaning. “Tomorrow, in all our fun today, there will be an empty chair on Wanda’s table,” he continued. “Ahmaud won’t be at Thanksgiving tomorrow. But she could look in that chair and say to Ahmaud, ‘I fought well and I got you justice.'”

As Marcus Arbery celebrated the verdict inside, crowds of supporters also cheered outside, chanting “we got justice”, reports CNN. Sentencing dates for the convicted men have yet to be set. They also face separate federal hate crime charges, to which they plead not guilty.