The three men already facing murder charges from the state for last year’s fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery answered, for the first time, federal hate crime charges leveled at them in late April.
Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan all pleaded not guilty Tuesday at their arraignment on the federal charges. They were not accompanied by attorneys; each man asked for court-appointed representation.
The charges, read aloud by U.S. Magistrate Benjamin Cheesbro, allege the men“did willfully, by force and threat of force, injure, intimidate, and interfere with Ahmaud Arbery, an African American man, because of his race and color.”
They are also accused of trying to kidnap Arbery, 25, while he ran through the Satilla Shores neighborhood just outside of Brunswick.
The prosecution said they are prepared to turn over one terabyte of discovery evidence to the defense within the next week along with the complete GBI case file.
