In recent court filings, prosecutors said the text messages and posts should be allowed at trial as “proof of motive.”
Attorneys for the McMichaels say the men chased Arbery because they thought he had burglarized a house that was under construction. Police turned up no evidence of stolen materials on the slain man’s person after he was gunned down.
In addition, they want to use a “Identity Dixie Facebook post” and a “Racial Johnny Rebel Facebook post” at trial against Greg McMichael. Prosecutors are also seeking to be allowed to use texts in which Bryan repeatedly used the N-word.
Bryan allegedly told a GBI investigator he heard Travis McMichael call Arbery a “f—ing n-word,” after shooting him. The McMichaels’ attorneys told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month that Bryan could not have heard their client make any statements and said the father and son didn’t chase Arbery because he was Black.
Prosecutors have also asked that bad character evidence against Arbery, including past convictions and mental health history, be inadmissible in court.
More than two months passed between Arbery’s death and the arrest of the three men involved. Only after video footage of the incident surfaced, sparking national outrage, were arrests made.
No trial date has been set, and the McMichaels and Bryan remain in jail.
For more on the original article visit: https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/10/08/georgia-prosecutors-want-to-use-defendants-racist-texts-and-posts-to-show-proof-of-motive-in-ahmaud-arbery-case/
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