All three white men accused in the February 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia have been found guilty of murder, and all three now face life sentences in addition to federal charges they have not yet been tried for.

65-year-old Greg McMichael, his 35-year-old son Travis McMichael, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, were found guilty Wednesday by a jury in Brunswick, Georgia, after deliberating for just 10 hours. The quick verdict suggests that the nearly all-white jury was easily swayed by prosecutors' arguments that the McMichaels and Bryan did not sufficiently fear for their lives when the 25-year-old Arbery — whom they had been chasing with weapons in hand through their neighborhood just outside of Brunswick — turned back to confront and run toward them in a moment of anger, after being chased for five minutes, and after he became trapped between two pickup trucks.

As the lead prosecutor said in closing arguments, per the New York Times, "You can’t start it and claim self-defense. And they started this."

The verdict from the jury stands in sharp contrast to Friday's verdict in the Wisconsin trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who also claimed self-defense in the killing of two people and the shooting of another during civil unrest in Kenosha in August 2020. All three of Rittenhouse's victims were white, and one of them was armed, and defense attorneys successfully argued that Rittenhouse feared for his life in all three confrontations with the victims. Prosecutors had argued that Rittenhouse, who was not old enough to legally carry the weapon, brought a semi-automatic rifle to a night of unrest with the intention or expectation of using it.

In the Arbery case, as the Associated Press reports, the jury sent a note to the judge shortly after beginning deliberations, asking "to view two versions of the shooting video — the original and one that investigators enhanced to reduce shadows — three times apiece." The video was shot on the scene by Bryan while the confrontation took place.

They also asked to re-hear a 911 call by Greg McMichael in which he says, "I’m out here in Satilla Shores. There’s a Black male running down the street." Subsequently in the call you hear McMichael yell as Arbery approaches the defendants, "Stop right there! Damn it, stop! Travis!" And shots ring out, from the gun of Travis McMichael.

The McMichaels and Bryan claimed that they were attempting to make a legal citizen's arrest, because they believed Arbery — who was out for a jog and lived nearby — was a burglar responsible for some recent robberies in the neighborhood.

The case rested both on arguments of self-defense, and a racist citizen's arrest law established in Georgia in the 19th century that has its roots in slavery.

One complication raised by the defense was that Arbery had allegedly been seen in the neighborhood entering a partially built house, which a neighbor said Arbery was also wandering in the day of the shooting. There was never any evidence that Arbery had taken anything, and it seemed he was merely trespassing.

The case highlighted the racially privileged treatment of the three white defendants initially after the shooting. Greg McMichael, a former police officer and investigator for the local district attorney’s office, was believed to have been given overly sympathetic treatment by the former district attorney, who was subsequently replaced in an election last year. The release of Bryan's cellphone video of the shooting subsequently led to charges being filed.

All three men also face a federal trial in February on hate crime and other charges.

Top image: BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA - NOVEMBER 23: Defendant Travis McMichael looks on during his trial and of William "Roddie" Bryan and Gregory McMichael, charged with the February 2020 death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, at the Glynn County Courthouse on November 23, 2021 in Brunswick, Georgia. Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan are charged with the February, 2020 fatal shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. (Photo by Octavio Jones-Pool/Getty Images)