Ahmaud Arbery

Last week, a district court acquitted two men and deadlocked on two others who were accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. No word yet on which of her Covid restrictions Whitmer will now violate in order to cheer herself up. But the decision was a credit to the jury, which did the right thing in the face of immense pressure. The case against Whitmer's would-be abductors was a crock from the start, a classic instance of the FBI egging on poor saps so it could land an arrest and grab a headline. The spooky right-wing terrorists were nothing of the sort. Their supposed ringleader, a man named Barry Croft, was a heavy pot smoker nicknamed "Bonehead" who caused one FBI investigator to ask "Do these guys even know what's up?

The jurors who convicted the killers of Ahmaud Arbery delivered accountability after a shocking crime, prosecutorial misconduct and an often disappointing trial. Their just verdict was based on foundational constitutional principles, the law and the facts. Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan chased down and killed the unarmed Arbery as he jogged through the residential neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia. Bryan filmed the attack, which culminated in Travis McMichael firing a shotgun at point blank range at Arbery. For nearly two months, prosecutors refused to file charges or even arrest the killers. Then Bryan’s film was leaked, a public uproar ensued, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case.