周一，在对三名佐治亚州白人男子的联邦仇恨犯罪审判中，陪审团就座并开始陈述Ahmaud Arbery一名25岁的黑人男子，2020年外出慢跑时被人追赶并枪杀。

经过从2月7日开始的漫长遴选过程，包括四名候补陪审员在内的16名陪审员于周一上午被选任。陪审团由八名白人、三名黑人和一名西班牙裔组成。候补成员是三名白人成员和一名太平洋岛民。

周一下午，针对64岁退休警官格雷戈里·麦克迈克尔、他36岁的儿子特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔和他们52岁的邻居威廉·罗德迪·布莱恩的高调案件开始陈述。

检察官博比·伯恩斯坦(Bobbi Bernstein)在陈述开始时向陪审团道歉，因为她不得不向他们朗读特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔(Travis McMichael)在短信和社交媒体上用来描述黑人的种族诽谤和描述。伯恩斯坦告诉陪审团，他们将听到证据表明，这三个人在私下讨论黑人时都使用了带有种族色彩的语言。

伯恩斯坦还表示，她将提供证据，证明布莱恩告诉调查人员，在特拉维斯·麦克米凯尔枪杀阿尔贝里后，据称他听到受害者躺在人行道上奄奄一息时，他对着受害者大喊种族主义绰号，这些证据被排除在被告的州审判之外，在州审判中，他们都被判谋杀罪，并被判处终身监禁。

伯恩斯坦告诉专家组，虽然使用种族诽谤并不违法，“但这些诽谤可以为你提供证据，说明被告为什么要做他所做的事情。”

她告诉陪审员，如果阿贝里是白人，“他会及时回家吃周日晚餐。”相反，她说，阿贝瑞在生命的最后时刻“独自一人在街中央害怕得流血而死。”

辩护律师艾米·李·科普兰试图与她的委托人特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔保持距离，她在开场白中承认年轻的麦克迈克尔留下了使用“我不使用的词语和我不分享的观点”的数字足迹

“但这些话不是犯罪，”科普兰说。

格雷戈里·麦克迈克尔的律师巴尔博说，他的当事人不是“天使”，但也不是种族主义者。巴尔博说，阿尔贝里没有被跟踪，是因为他是一个黑人，而是因为他是麦克迈克尔夫妇在安全视频中认出的“那个人”，他闯入了一个正在建设中的邻居家。"

巴尔博告诉陪审团:“艾哈迈德·阿贝里被杀是一个悲剧和可怕的事件，本来不需要发生，也可以用很多方法来预防。

布莱恩的律师皮特·西奥多西恩将他的当事人描绘成一个不从种族角度看待他人的人，他说种族主义是没有借口的。他要求陪审团不要看不利于其他被告的证据，而用它来对付布莱恩。

佐治亚州布伦瑞克美国地方法院的审判预计将持续7到10天。

这三人都被控一项干涉阿尔贝里公民权利的罪名和一项绑架未遂的罪名。麦克迈克尔夫妇还被控使用、携带和挥舞火器各一项罪名，特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔面临在暴力犯罪期间和与暴力犯罪有关的另一项开枪罪名。

如果罪名成立，这些人将面临最高无期徒刑。

斯蒂芬·莫顿/路透泳池，文件

特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔，中间偏左，在他和他的丈夫被判刑时和他的律师交谈..

麦克迈克尔一家和布莱恩一家去年被判有罪阿尔贝里之死的州谋杀指控。他们都被判终身监禁。

麦克迈克尔一家在佐治亚州布伦瑞克附近的萨提亚海岸附近看到阿贝里慢跑，随后阿贝里被枪杀。他们说，他们认为阿贝里是一个窃贼，自己武装起来，开着他们的皮卡追他。麦克迈克尔一家的邻居布莱恩也加入了追捕，用他的卡车堵住了受害者的逃跑路线，并在特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔的手机上录制了视频，在一次搏斗中，他用猎枪朝阿尔贝里射击了三次，致其死亡。

如果在联邦案件中被定罪，这些人在被转移到联邦监狱之前必须先服完州刑期。

在1月30日向法院提交的现已失效的认罪协议中，格雷戈里和特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔同意认罪，承认起诉书中的一项指控，即他们“因为阿尔贝里的种族和肤色”干涉了阿尔贝里使用他慢跑的公共道路的权利

作为认罪的交换，检察官将驳回其他指控，并允许麦克迈克尔一家在联邦监狱服刑30年，然后被转回佐治亚州惩教署服刑。

布莱恩没有得到同样的认罪协议。

法官丽莎·伍德拒绝了麦克迈克尔的认罪协议，因为阿贝里的父母旺达·库珀-琼斯和马库斯·阿贝里强烈反对，并声称这是未经他们同意伪造的。美国助理司法部长克里斯汀·克拉克(Kristen Clarke)在一份声明中表示，检察官一直与Arbery家族的律师保持沟通，并得到保证，该家族不会反对这项协议。

伍德声称，她拒绝了这笔交易，因为这将使她被判30年的联邦监禁，她说她不知道这是否是“本案中准确、公平的判决”。

在伍德做出决定后，格雷戈里和特拉维斯·麦克迈克尔(由于经济困难，他们由法院指定的公设辩护律师代理)撤回了认罪，选择接受审判。

Jury seated in federal hate crimes trial of 3 men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery

A jury was seated and opening statements got underway Monday in the federal hate crimes trial of three white Georgia men stemming from the murder ofAhmaud Arberya 25-year-old Black man who was out for a jog in 2020 when he was chased and gunned down.

The 16 jurors, including four alternates, were empaneled on Monday morning following a lengthy selection process that started on Feb. 7. The jury is comprised of eight whites, three Blacks and one Hispanic. Alternates are three white members and one Pacific Islander.

Opening statements in the high profile case against 64-year-old retired police officer Gregory McMichael, his 36-year-old son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, commenced on Monday afternoon.

Prosecutor Bobbi Bernstein began her presentation by apologizing to the jury for having to read to them racial slurs and descriptions she said Travis McMichael used in text messages and on social media to describe Black people. Bernstein told the jury they will hear evidence that all three men used racially-charged language when discussing Black people in private.

Bernstein also said she will present evidence that Bryan told investigators that after Travis McMichael shot Arbery he allegedly heard him yell a racist epithet at the victim as he lay dying on the pavement, evidence that was excluded from the defendants' state trial in which they were all convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Bernstein told the panel that while it is not illegal to use racial slurs, "these slurs can provide you with evidence as to why a defendant did what he did."

She told the jurors that if Arbery had been white, "he would have been home in time for Sunday dinner." Instead, she said, Arbery spent his last moments of life "bleeding to death, alone and scared in the middle of the street."

Defense attorney Amy Lee Copeland attempted to distance herself from her client, Travis McMichael, conceding in her opening statement that the younger McMichael left a digital footprint of using "words that I don’t use and has opinions I don’t share."

"But these words are not a crime," Copeland said.

Gregory McMichael’s attorney, A.J. Balbo, said his client was not "an angel," but was also not a racist. Balbo said Arbery was not followed because he was a Black man, but because he was "the man" the McMichaels recognized in security videos trespassing at a neighbor's home that was under construction."

"The killing of Ahmaud Arbery was a tragic and horrible event that didn’t need to happen and could have been prevented in so many ways," Balbo told the jury.

Bryan’s attorney, Pete Theodocion, painted his client as someone who doesn’t look at people through a racial prism, saying there is no excuse for racism. He asked the jury not to look at evidence against the other defendants and use it against Bryan.

The trial in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, is expected to last seven to 10 days.

All three men are charged with one count of interference with Arbery's civil rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels were also charged with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm, and Travis McMichael faces an additional count of discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

If convicted, the men face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The McMichaels and Bryan wereconvicted last yearon state murder charges in Arbery's death. They were all sentenced to life in prison.

Arbery was fatally shot after the McMichaels saw him jogging in their Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia. They said they assumed Arbery was a burglar, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. The McMichaels' neighbor, Bryan, joined the pursuit, blocking the victim's escape path with his truck and recorded video on a cellphone of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery three times with a shotgun during a struggle.

If convicted in the federal case, the men must first serve their state sentences before being transferred to federal prison.

In the now-defunct plea deal filed with the court on Jan. 30, Gregory and Travis McMichael agreed to plead guilty to count one of an indictment alleging they interfered with Arbery's right to enjoy the use of a public road he was jogging on "because of Arbery's race and color."

In exchange for the guilty pleas, prosecutors were to dismiss the other charges and allow the McMichaels to serve the first 30 years of confinement in federal prison before being transferred back to the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve out the remainder of their state sentences.

The same plea agreement was not given to Bryan.

Judge Lisa Wood rejected the McMichaels' plea deal after Arbery's parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, strongly objected and claimed it was forged without their consent. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement that prosecutors were in constant communication with the Arbery family's attorneys and had been assured the family would not object to the agreement.

Wood claimed she turned down the deal because it would have locked her into the three-decade federal prison sentence, saying she didn't know if that was "the precise, fair sentence in this case."

Following Wood's decision, Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are being represented by court-appointed public defenders due to financial hardship, withdrew their guilty pleas and opted to go to trial.