A federal judge closed his courtroom to the public Friday to hear attorneys debate whether “racially insensitive” text messages should be allowed as evidence in the hate crimes trial of three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Benjamin Cheesbro spent more than two hours hearing arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys behind closed doors, as evidence of racist actions or attitudes by the defendants had been ordered sealed from public view.
In November, a Georgia state court convicted father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, of murder in Arbery’s death. All three were sentenced Jan. 7 to life in prison, with the McMichaels receiving life without the possibility of parole.
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