BRUNSWICK, Ga. ― Federal prosecutors on Wednesday moved to buttress their hate crimes case involving the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by introducing a number of racist messages sent by the men convicted of Arbery’s murder.
The evidence was presented through the testimony of FBI intelligence analyst Amy Vaughn, who read to the jury extracted messages taken from the cellphones of Travis McMichael, who shot and killed Arbery, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, who took the video of the shooting.
On March 16, 2019, almost a year before the fatal shooting, McMichael exchanged texts with a friend identified only by his initials, H.B.
H.B. texted that he went bar-hopping the previous evening but complained he had encountered too many Black people.
“They ruin everything,” McMichael responded, according to Vaughn. “That’s why I love what I do. Not a (n-word) in sight. ... Zero (n-words) everywhere.”
On Jan. 21, 2019, McMichael and a friend, identified as N.J., were about to meet up at a Cracker Barrel when N.J. texted he had parked was seeing a number of Black people at the restaurant, testified Vaughn, who specializes in internet terrorism activity.
“Need to change the name from Cracker Barrel to (N-word) Bucket,” McMichael replied, Vaughn testified.
In a message to another friend on Feb. 11, 2019, McMichael included a photo of a shirt that read, “At least I’m not a (n-word),” Vaughn testified.
McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and Bryan were convicted last fall in a state court trial of the murder of Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020. The three men are now on trial in federal court charged with hate crimes.
Vaughn said the FBI was unable to get messages from the phone of Greg McMichael because agents couldn’t crack the encryption code on McMichael’s iPhone.
But agents did access Bryan’s cellphone and found that he sent racist messages to his friends as well, Vaughn said.
This included sarcastic and vile remarks about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2019 and 2020. Vaughn noted that a friend, identified as P.T., texted Bryan that he must be taking off from work to be the “grand marshal” of the MLK Day parade.
“He would never do that because he doesn’t care for Black people or MLK Day,” Vaughn testified.
On the holiday in 2019, Bryan responded, “I’m working so all the (n-words) can take the day off,” Vaughn testified.
The following year, Bryan messaged P.T. about the “monkey parade over there” on Gloucester Street, one of the routes for the MLK Day parade in downtown Brunswick, Vaughn said.
Vaughn also testified that Bryan was upset when he learned his daughter had started dating a Black man in early 2020.
“He’d fit right in with the monkeys,” Bryan messaged a friend on Feb. 19, 2020, only four days before Arbery’s killing, Vaughn testified. That same day, Bryan messaged another friend, saying, “She has her (n-word) now.”
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