News Roundup

Published for NC Criminal Law on February 25, 2022.

As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted this week by a federal jury of hate crimes related to their murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia two years ago.  All three men were convicted of state murder charges in December of last year.  Outside the courthouse, Arbery’s family celebrated the verdict and thanked supporters for standing by them in what they called a “very long, stressful fight” for justice.  Keep reading for more news. Floyd Civil Rights Verdict.  As the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports, three former Minneapolis police officers who were on the scene when Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in May 2020 were convicted by a federal jury yesterday of violating Floyd’s civil rights.  Former officers J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao, and Thomas Lane each were convicted of failing to render aid to Floyd, and Kueng and Thao also were convicted of failing to intervene while Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck.  In case you missed it, Jeff had a blog post earlier this week discussing law enforcement officers’ statutory and constitutional duty to intervene.  State charges still are pending against all of the former officers. HBCU Threats.  USA Today reported this week that at least 57 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and places of worship have been the targets of bomb threats since the beginning of the year, with many of the threats coming since the beginning of February, which is Black History Month.  In a recent statement, the FBI said it [...]