In a closely watched hearing, a panel of judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals listened to arguments on Wednesday from attorneys seeking to overturn the hate crime conviction of three white men - Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan - in the case of Ahmaud Arbery's death. The trio had used pickup trucks to chase Arbery, a Black man, through a Georgia subdivision in 2020 before Travis McMichael fatally shot him.

The three men were previously found guilty of murder in a Georgia state court and were sentenced to life in prison. Subsequently, they were also convicted of hate crimes and other charges in a federal trial held in February 2022. However, they did not appear in court for the recent appeal hearing.

The focus of the hate crimes trial centered on the racial bias exhibited by the three men, a motive that was largely avoided by prosecutors in the state case. Arbery's family and civil rights leaders have referred to his death as a modern-day lynching, which, along with the high-profile killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, fueled widespread outrage over racial injustice.

Prosecutors argued in a legal brief filed before the hearing that the defendants held longstanding hate and prejudice toward Black people, and their actions were driven by a combination of racial bias and support for vigilante justice. However, the attorneys representing the three men argued that evidence of past racist comments made by their clients did not prove a racist intent to harm.

One key point of contention in the appeal was whether Arbery's killing took place on public streets as required under federal law for a hate crime conviction. The defense argued that since Arbery was killed in a neighborhood, not on a public street, the hate crime conviction should be thrown out. However, a county official testified that the streets in Satilla Shores, where Arbery was killed, were officially designated public streets.

During the hearing, Travis McMichael's appeals attorney, Amy Lee Copeland, claimed that the government had failed to prove the public status of the streets, as alleged in the indictment. Judge Elizabeth Branch countered by pointing to the testimony provided by the county official, confirming the designation of Satilla Shores' streets as public.

Gregory McMichael's attorney, A.J. Balbo, conceded that his client's actions displayed "hypervigilantism" but argued that his pursuit of Arbery was based on seeing him on a security camera video and not solely because he was Black. Balbo also contended that the attempted kidnapping charge, which all three men were convicted of, should be challenged because the defendants were allegedly trying to protect the community from someone they believed had committed a crime.

Prosecutor Brant Levine urged the judges to uphold the hate crime convictions, emphasizing the racial aspect of the case. He stated that Arbery would be alive if he hadn't been a Black man running in Satilla Shores and argued that the defendants went to extreme measures and terrorized Arbery for nearly five minutes.

The judges did not indicate when they would rule on the appeal. If any of the federal convictions are overturned by the U.S. appeals court, the McMichaels and Bryan will remain in prison. Outside the courthouse, a rally was held with attendees, including members of Arbery's family and community, protesting the appeal and emphasizing the significance of the hate crimes conviction as the first of its kind in Georgia.

The case of Ahmaud Arbery's killing continues to serve as a symbol of racial injustice and the need for accountability. The upcoming ruling by the appellate judges will determine the fate of the three convicted men and will have significant implications for the pursuit of justice in hate crime cases.