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Written by: A. Smith
Published November 17, 2025 @ 12:08 PM ET
GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. – A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the hate crime convictions of three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was jogging through a Georgia neighborhood in 2020.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments that the men’s history of racist text messages and social media posts failed to prove they targeted Arbery because of his race.
The ruling came more than a year after defense attorneys urged the court in March 2024 to overturn the convictions.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and used a pickup truck to pursue the 25-year-old Arbery after spotting him running in their neighborhood just outside Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun.
Federal prosecutors used the defendants’ racist posts and messages in 2022 to convince a jury that Arbery’s killing was motivated by “pent-up racial anger.”
More than two months passed without arrests until Bryan’s graphic video leaked online. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police as outrage over Arbery’s death became part of a national outcry over racial injustice.
All three men were convicted of murder by a state court in late 2021. After a second trial in U.S. District Court in early 2022, a jury found the trio guilty of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping.
The three men are serving life sentences for murder and face no immediate reprieve from prison despite the appeal.
Greg McMichael’s attorney, A.J. Balbo, declined to comment on the appellate ruling.
Attorneys for Bryan and Travis McMichael have not made any statements since the ruling.