‘CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ACTION’

DOJ Investigating Murder of Ahmaud Arbery as Possible Hate Crime: Attorney

The family’s attorney said federal authorities informed Arbery’s parents that they are probing the state and local responses to his murder.

The Department of Justice is officially investigating the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man who was fatally shot by two white men while jogging in Georgia, as a possible hate crime, according to the family’s lawyer S. Lee Merritt. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia informed Arbery’s parents that federal authorities are probing the responses of Glynn County and the state of Georgia for possible violations of the equal protection clause in the Constitution. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced earlier this month that he asked the Justice Department to investigate how Arbery’s case was handled “from the outset.”

Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested and charged with murder on May 7—over two months after Arbery was killed on Feb. 23—after graphic video footage of the attack went viral and sparked national outrage. The case has been heavily scrutinized after it came to light that Gregory, a former law enforcement officer, worked for Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson. The District Attorney recused herself from the investigation due to a conflict of interest and pushed the case to Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George E. Barnhill, who also recused himself over an alleged “insufficient probable cause.”