People hold portraits of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery during a demonstration. Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
The three white men charged in the death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery last year pled not guilty to federal hate crime charges at a court proceeding in Georgia Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Why it matters: Arbery's case is one of several that propelled nationwide Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
The big picture: In April the Department of Justice charged the three men — Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan — with federal hate crimes and attempted kidnapping in connection to Arbery's death.
- They also face separate state charges of "malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony," though the state proceeding has not started yet, the DOJ noted on April 28.