and wept. outside the courthouse hugs and cheers over the verdict they had been hoping for but feared might never come. i want to bring in nbc s cal perry in georgia. ck hoff ler is a veteran lawyer and danielle higgins is a defense attorney. happy thanksgiving to you all. cal, we know the men have to go back on trial on federal hate crimes charges in just ten weeks. after such an emotional period for this community, are they ready to go through it again? reporter: look. i think it was very difficult to relive the moments that took place february 23, 2020, for the community because this case was so badly mishandled by prosecutors here and the facts of the case were never in dispute. what happened that day never in dispute. three white men with two firearms shot and killed an unarmed black male. the community wondered how police thought in any way that
the light of murder of ahmaud arbery. unfortunately georgia is the only state in the country dismantled the citizens arrest law. it is a 1863 law that came about in light of having citizens recover slaves that escaped. that doesn t apply today. it needs to be looked at so people don t feel they need to take the law in their own hands and putting themselves in danger and others. i think the ahmaud arbery case begs the question and raised the question for state lawmakers in this country. ck, even though there s conversation surrounding the trials there is less conversation of the cases that never get to trial and brings me to jackie johnson, first prosecutor to get the case. she s been indicted for allegedly stopping police from arresting mcmichael and others. how unusual is that? is it important? does it tell us something?
murder to not to go home and wash his hands and get rid of the evidence. she told the police officers to stand down and devastating. she obstructed the scene. ck? ck, i think something is maybe playing on your computer. did we get that did that stop? okay. so we don t have it. danielle, that same question and what you think the message is here in the prosecution of this prosecutor. a lot of people are saying accountability was delivered yesterday to the ahmaud arbery family. not necessarily justice. it is because there are loose ends here that have to be tied up. there s so many missteps here, including jackie johnson, the prosecutor on the case and must be brought to justice.
that situation was okay and then we later find out greg mcmichael was a former police officer, former investigator for the d.a. s office. so all of that is going to be very difficult to relive in a federal trial and then you add in the race aspects which to be fair the prosecution really stayed away but the defense continued to stumble into the race issues. i think all of that is hard hanging over the heads of the three men is a sentencing phase. the judge said in a few weeks it would take place. important to note that there is no difference in the sentencing when it s malice murder or felony murder. it is a distinction without a difference. minimum 30 years. what the judge will decide is whether or not they will be eligible for parole and we should know that in a couple weeks. ck, how do you see the next trial playing out? does it matter they were found guilty in this case or are hate crimes trials a different beast?
referred it to someone that worked in her office and worked with mr. mcmichaels the father so that person had to stand down and ultimately sent to cobb county. she also with the attorney general failed to disclose the conflict of interest. there s so many things. that s just a tip of the iceberg. the conduct is reprehencible. she needs to be accountable for her actions in the obstruction because a three-month delay when your child is shot and killed, murdered the way ahmaud arbery was, is devastated. but for the efforts of the family we may have not gotten to this point in this case. as so many families have to do, they kept this story alive. danielle, ck, cal, as always, you have been great in this trial. thank you. up next, migration tragedy.