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Ahmaud Arbery’s killers want their hate crime convictions overturned

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ATLANTA (AP) – Attorneys are asking a U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn the hate crime convictions of three white men who used pickup trucks to chase Ahmaud Arbery through the streets of a county in Georgia before considered one of them killed the fleeing black man with a shotgun.

A panel of judges from the eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta was scheduled to listen to oral arguments Wednesday within the case that followed nationwide protests over Arbery’s death. Lawyers for the white men argue that evidence of racist comments they’ve made prior to now doesn’t prove racist intent to harm.

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On February 23, 2020, father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves with guns and chased Arbery after they spotted a 25-year-old man running through their neighborhood outside the port city of Brunswick. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery on the street.

More than two months passed with no arrests until Bryan’s graphic video of the killing was leaked onto the Internet and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. Charges were soon filed.

All three men were sentenced in a Georgia state court in late 2021.

In legal documents filed ahead of the appeals court hearings, lawyers for Greg McMichael and Bryan cited prosecutors’ use of greater than two dozen social media posts and text messages, in addition to witness statements, showing that every one three men used racial slurs or otherwise disparaged Black people.

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Bryan’s attorney, Pete Theodocion, said Bryan’s past racist statements angered the jury while failing to prove that Arbery was prosecuted due to his race. According to AJ Balbo, Greg McMichael’s lawyer, Arbery was pursued since the three men wrongly suspected he was a fugitive.

Greg McMichael gave chase when Arbery ran past his house, saying he recognized a young black man from security footage that in previous months had shown him entering a neighboring house under construction. None of the videos showed him stealing, and Arbery was unarmed and had no stolen property when he was killed.

In written submissions, prosecutors said trial evidence showed “long-standing hatred and prejudice against black people” that influenced defendants to consider Arbery had committed crimes.

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In Travis McMichael’s appeal, attorney Amy Lee Copeland didn’t dispute the jury’s finding that he was motivated by racism. Social media evidence features a 2018 Facebook comment by Travis McMichael on a video of a black man pranking a white person. He used an expletive and a racial slur, writing: “I might kill it…. “

Instead, Copeland based her appeal on legal details. She said prosecutors didn’t prove that the streets of Satilla Shores County, where Arbery was killed, were public roads, as stated within the indictment used to charge the lads.

Copeland cited records from a 1958 meeting of Glynn County commissioners through which they refused to take the streets over to the district’s developer. During the trial, prosecutors relied on service request records and district official testimony to point out that district officials cared in regards to the streets.

Lawyers for the three also presented technical arguments for overturning their attempted kidnapping convictions. Prosecutors said the charge was warranted because the lads used pickup trucks to chop off Arbery from fleeing the realm.

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Defense attorneys said the fees were improper because their clients weren’t attempting to capture Arbery for ransom or other advantage and the trucks weren’t getting used as a “tool of interstate commerce.” Both elements are required for attempted kidnapping to be a federal crime.

Prosecutors said other federal appellate districts have ruled that any automotive utilized in the hijacking qualifies as an instrument of interstate commerce. They also said that the profit the lads sought was “the satisfaction of their personal desires and the administration of vigilante justice.”

The trial judge sentenced each McMichaels to life in prison for the hate crimes and an extra sentence – 10 years for Travis McMichael and 7 years for his father – for brandishing a gun while committing violent crimes. Bryan received a lighter sentence for the hate crime of 35 years in prison, partly because he was unarmed and retained a cellphone video that became key evidence.

The three also received 20 years in prison for the attempted kidnapping, however the judge ordered that this time run concurrently with their hate crime sentences.

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If either of the federal sentences is overturned by a U.S. appeals court, each the McMichaels and Bryan will remain in prison. All three are serving life sentences in Georgia state prisons for murder, and motions for a brand new state trial are pending before a judge.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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DC SEE parents for $ 20 million after the remains of the baby’s son in a funeral home a few months after alleged cremation

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Two parents from Washington sued the crematorium for 20 million dollars after it was found that their infant’s body decomposes, though they were told that he was creamy and allegedly obtained his remains.

On February 27, a few months after receiving what they thought were the ashes of their son, Chris Parham and Laquanda Brown received a phone call from the Maryland State Police, informing them that their son’s remains were found, NBC 4 Washington Reported.

(*20*)

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Instead of being creamy, their son’s body was found by the police in a heavenly crematorium in Charles, Maryland, still in the clothes he was wearing during the funeral. Brown and Parham received someone’s ashes after their son’s funeral in October. Despite the discovery in February, parents still wouldn’t have the remains of their son.

During a conversation with NBC 4, Washington Parham admitted that after the first visit he had his “doubts” about his activity.

“He told me from the moment we entered the funeral home,” something is incorrect, “said Brown.

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Parham and Brown represent one case of what’s now known that it covers several victims of the already closed crematorium. According to Fox 5The crematorium related to the heavens was charged with improper behavior of 2017. The Supervisory Board of Death Services Maryland discovered that at the moment he was incorrectly stores human remains, and the operators still received repetitive sanctions. The company was formally closed in January 2025. After state researchers found human bodies in cardboard boxes arranged one on the other, with legs and arms hanging from bags, encircled by flies. They also discovered body fluids, including blood, on the floor.

From a point of view, they reported that the Governor Maryland Wes Moore opened an investigation into the state supervisory board after the heavenly borders could proceed his business despite repeated disturbing claims.

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The son of Parham and Brown died in August at the age of just two months, and parents said each NBC 4 and Fox 5, as this discovery disturbed what a slight healing began to do.

Brown noticed how hard it was, especially after wearing a child for nine months; He was her only son.

“I won’t even be able to experience like his first date, I know what his favorite color was,” she said. “I would never know what person he would be.”

Parham and Brown sue compensation for $ 20 million to make sure the closure of the heaven -related crematorium.

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Sean “Diddy” Combs rejects the final contract due to the trial on sexual trade

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Sean “Diddy” Combs rejected his last probability to avoid a sexual trade process.

During the hearing on Thursday, a 55-year-old disgraced music mogel confirmed that he didn’t accept transactions of federal prosecutors, NBC News Reported.

Asked by the district judge Arun Subramanian, who led in New York, if he rejected the government’s offer, Diddy said: “Yes, your honor.”

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After consulting his legal team, led by lawyer Marc Agnifilo, he didn’t plead five charges covering tribute, two cases of sexual trade and two cases of transport so as to become involved in prostitution. He denied all the allegations that were brought to him in quite a few lawsuits, wherein he accused or forced people to take part in sexual files and drug -powered sexuals.

If Diddy is found guilty, he faces an extended time behind bars. If he’s convicted of racketeers, he stands in the face of life in prison. If he’s found guilty of two allegations of sexual trade, he’s in the face of a further at the least 15 years. Meanwhile, transport for the purposes of prostitution fees has a maximum judgment of 10 years.

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Details of the allegation agreement haven’t been disclosed; However, at the least one lawyer noticed NBC that it was related to a smaller sentence.

Thursday’s interrogation was the last before selecting a jury in the process, which is to start on May 5. Opening declarations to the trial are to start on May 12. The initial technique of jury began on Monday, April 28, and tons of of New Yorkers were received by questionnaires to determine their impartiality.

While Diddy, who was waiting for the trial in Brooklyn since his arrest in September, appeared in court during a trial in prison, in accordance with BBC NewsThe music director was allowed to wear “non -disconneous clothing” during the trial.

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The judicial order specifies that COBS will “allow five button shirts, up to five pairs of pants, up to five sweaters, up to five pairs of socks and up to two pairs of shoes without lace in court”, according to BBC.

According to sales, this movement just isn’t unusual. The accused can often wear their very own clothes during trials, because prison clothes may cause some sworn to see crime by nature.

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Shooting at Elizabeth City State University leaves 1 dead, 6 wounded

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A 24-year-old man was killed at the Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) campus throughout the shooting on Sunday, April 27. Shooting at the Historically Black University campus at Elizabeth City in North Carolina, also hurt six others.

HBCU published statement Explaining that the shooting took place after the Yard Fest, an event that was a part of the larger Viking Fest festival, a weekly celebration of the college spirit within the campus.

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“Six people were injured during the incident. Four durable gunshot wounds, including three ECSU students,” confirmed the university. “In addition, two other ECSU students were injured during the next confusion. Fortunately, none of the injuries is considered life -threatening, and all injured were transported to the local hospital for treatment.”

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A 24-year-old man who was not an ECSU student was recognized as deceased. His identity is suspended in anticipation of notification of his closest relative ” – read the statement.

(*1*)

The man who died was identified as Isaiah Caldwell, According to State Bureau of Investigation.

“ECSU expands its deepest sympathies for everyone affected by this tragic event and remains involved in ensuring the security and well -being of the Viking community,” he summed up the ECSU statement.

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Caldwell was a member of the University of Albany 2021 of the Social Organization of Scholarship Organization, Groove Phi Groove; organization He confirmed his departure through social media on Monday.

“With deep sadness and the deepest sympathy, we inform you concerning the premature passage of our beloved brother, Isaiah Caldwell (autumn 21 – great chapter data). Isaiah was tragically taken from the senseless and non -discriminatory violence from the pistol in Elżbiebeth City State University at Vikingfest at the University of State University University University.

Following shooting, the University moved to distant education for the remaining weeks of the spring semester, in keeping with Virginian-Pilot.

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