system to the test, really. how will it deal with people who have a wanton disregard for human life, particularly black lives, it seems? i want to bring in elie honig, a former federal and state prosecutor to help put all of this into perspective. elie, it s so good to see you and have this conversation with you in particular because a lot of people don t necessarily realize. they re wondering, hold on. first of all, in the case of the three officers who were charged in depriving george floyd s civil rights, why was that not part of the state murder trial? why are they separate and beginning with a federal trial? what s the answer? yeah. so it s a good question, and it s a procedural decision. these three officers are facing both federal and state charges, but they re starting now with the federal case. and i think strategically it s smart to do that because in some respects, the theory in the federal case is broader than in the state case. in the state case, they re charged as accom
ahmad arbery begins in georgia, after last year s state murder trial ended in convictions for all three, you represent arbery s family, his mother wanda, and earlier this month, a federal judge rejected a plea deal from one of the defendants, travis mcmichael, that would have precluded his hate crimes trial. can you tell our audience why it is so important to the family that the defendants stand trial? they already have taken a stand, the trigger man who murdered arbery and offered his version of events, the family was most interested in the trial going forward. the evidence that the prosecutors have been able to discover, the investigators have been able to discover, they want to see it played out, they want to see the trial take its course, and we also believe that because the state intervention took place first and it preceded
2020, fatal police shootings set a new record in 2021. the highest total since the post began tracking these seven years ago. joining me now, civil rights attorney and candidate for attorney general of texas, lee merritt. great to see you. a lot of topics to cover. here we go. tomorrow, the federal hate crimes trial of the men that killed ahmaud arbery begins in georgia after last year s state murder trial ended in convictions for all three. you represent his family, his mother wanda. earlier this month, a federal judge rejected a plea deal from one of the defendants, travis mcmichael that would have precluded his hate crimes trial. can you tell our audience why it s so important to the family that the defendants stand trial?
to help put all this into perspective. it s so good to see you and have this conversation with you in particular because a lot of people don t necessarily realize. people are wondering, first of all, in the case of the three officers who were charged in depriving george floyd s civil rights, why was that not part of the state murder trial? why are they starting beginning with the federal trial? what s the answer? yeah, so it s a good question, and it s a procedural decision. these three officers are facing both federal and state charges, but they re starting now with the federal case. and i think strategically it s smart to do that because in some respects, the theory in the federal case is broader than in the state case. in the state case they re charged as accomplices, meaning essentially they helped derek chauvin kill george floyd. in the federal case they re charged under this really expansive theory is the liability is they falled to help, they failed to intervene.
sentiments of the attorney general. mark, why was it so important not only for the family but also legally to have these men go to trial for federal hate crimes? well, as wanda said, i think the most important thing was that this evidence be allowed to be seen by the world. for a lot of strategic reasons the state murder trial really didn t include a lot of the evidence that most people really knew was bubbling under the surface but it wasn t presented to the jury and it wasn t presented to the world. so the whole story has now been told. and there s been guilty verdicts not just of the murder but a hate crime and this is, you know, closer to resolution. you know, wanda, i have to be honest. just watching interviewing you from the beginning when this started, i think there s been a transformation. and you had to step up and do it.