because they didn t want him in their community. they chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community. and when they couldn t sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him. now, katy, keep in mind this is not the final chapter for these three defendants. they are set to face a federal hate crime trial. that is going to start in the next month. paul, let s talk about the sentencing. as katy was saying, the judge has full discretion here for maybe even parole or the option of parole, at least after 30 years. the argument from their lawyers that they can grow and change while they are in prison, how do you expect that to play? so katy, the defense asked for parole, saying that after 30 years in prison, these men would
in the state court, the prosecutors made a calculated decision to downplay the issue of race. we know there was an issue about the confederate flag license plate that the mcmichaels had and the judge ruled that plate could come into evidence but the prosecutors made a tactical decision on not to introduce that into evidence. we know there is social media posts of travis mcmichael, where he s used racial slurs and made other derogatory remarks with respect to people of color, all of that evidence will be front and center in the federal hate crime trial because that trial is all about the three defendants in this case targeting ahmaud arbery because of his race. and, yes, his sister, i think, bringing up those images and juxtaposing the beauty of blackness versus the curse of blackness, which is what these three defendants saw, they saw a black man and they saw that as a physical threat, which is so often the case, in our society, given how pervasive racism is.
and you would know that there was closure in that these men would spend the rest of their natural lives behind bars so you wouldn t have the uncertainty of an appeal or trial and you wouldn t have those things to prove in a hate crime trial would have been difficult but would have give an chance to have certainly a bird in the hand as opposed to going through a trial with a sentence, which is significant. it s a huge deal when you talk about putting somebody in jail for the rest of their natural lives. that s got to be the last word. thank you both. appreciate it. glad to be with you. more than 340,000 kids out of the close room as chicago s public school system fights with the teachers union and the figure skating champions now out of the competition aftert testig positive for covid. they will join me from quarantine.
hate crime trial, which was due to start next week. but it emerged on sunday that prosecutors had reached an agreement with two of the men, gregory and travis mcmichael. and that agreement included an acknowledgement for the first time from these men that they had in part been chasing mr arbery down the street because he was black. and prosecutors said that this was an important step towardsjustice, and as part of this agreement, it was stipulated that they would serve some 30 years in a federal prison before being transferred to a state prison to see out the rest of their life sentence. and the reason that that is both controversial and significant is that federal prisons in this country are generally seen as an easier or softer option than the state prison system. and it outraged the family of mr arbery, who believed that he was. that the prosecutors and the men in reaching this
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