Hate crimes, Ahmaud Arbery’s murder, and why motive matters

If someone has been convicted of murder, why then prosecute them for violating a victim’s right to a public street? As hate crimes proliferate, there’s a growing push to shine a light on bigotry.

The foreman, the sole Black man on the panel, wept when the verdict was read.

The evidence in the federal hate crime trial was plain. The men who chased and killed a Black jogger named Ahmaud Arbery in a coastal Georgia suburb two years ago today had a long history of bigoted comments that suggested a simmering hatred for Black people. 

“I wish they’d all die,” one of them said, according to testimony.

All three men were found guilty Tuesday of violating Mr. Arbery’s right to use a public street. They had already been convicted in state court of first-degree murder and were sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole for two of them.