All 3 men guilty of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery

After all three men on trial in the death of Ahmaud Arbery were convicted of murder, defense attorney Laura Hogue said, "I’m floored, floored with a capital ‘F,'" as she spoke to her client Gregory McMicheal's wife, Leigh, according to a pool reporter who was in the room. 

The comments were made as the courtroom was emptying following the reading of the verdict.

Leigh McMichael's "face was red with tears," the pool reporter observed, as she spoke to her husband's attorney.

Hogue said she was "very disappointed." 

Hogue's co-counsel, Frank Hogue, said they planned to appeal the conviction, the pool reporter said. 

Attorneys for Travis McMichael, Leigh's son, declined to comment. 

Marcus Arbery Sr., the father of Ahmaud Arbery, celebrated the guilty verdicts outside the courthouse, saying "we conquered that lynch mob."

Arbery said he saw the guilty verdicts as a victory for his son — and also for justice everywhere.

"It's all our problem," he continued. "So hey, let's keep fighting. Let's keep doing and making this a better place for all human beings."

Earlier in the day Judge Timothy Walmsley asked Arbery to leave the courtroom after he reacted to the guilty verdict of Travis McMichael – the man who shot his son.

Arbery exclaimed, "Woohoo!" after the first guilty verdict was read.

“I ask that whoever just made an outburst be removed from the court, please,” said Walmsley.

Concluding his remarks outside the courthouse today, Arbery appealed to love, saying all humans should be treated the same.

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Latonia Hines, the executive assistant district attorney in Cobb County, said Ahmaud Arbery's killing signaled a change in the community, Georgia and the nation as a whole.

Speaking for the district attorney, who had to leave due to a family emergency, Hines pointed to changes that have happened since the start of this case, including changes to Georgia's citizen arrest law.

"We want you to know that from the moment this case came to our office, it was our foremost goal to ensure that we got justice for Ahmaud Arbery's family, and in particular, we are so very proud and thankful for the confidence that the family has given to us," she said at a news conference on the courthouse steps.

Hines also said she admired the "steadfastness and the strength" of Arbery's parents throughout the trial and the "courage" of the jury to convict all three men charged in his killing.

Adding, "We want to thank this community for the support that it has given, to the family and to us and the community at large."

Linda Dunikoski, the lead prosecutor in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial, said that the prosecution's argument was a "team effort."

"We had so many people on the team that helped bring justice for Ahmaud and his family, and we really, really appreciate the support that we had and the faith from Mr. Arbery [Ahmaud Arbery's father] and from Ms. Wanda Cooper-Jones [Arbery's mother] who have been with us, and put their faith in us and trusted us," she said outside the Glynn County, Georgia, courthouse.

Rev. Al Sharpton praised "White and Black activists" alike for their support during the trial of three men found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery last year.

Sharpton added: "Tomorrow, in all our joy today, there will be an empty chair at Wanda's table. Ahmaud will not be at Thanksgiving tomorrow. But she can look at that chair and say to Ahmaud, 'I fought a good fight and I got you some justice.' We can't fill that chair for you, Wanda, but we can say that you are a mother above all mothers. You fought for your son."

Religious leaders during the trial: Defense attorney Kevin Gough attempted to have Rev. Jesse Jackson removed from the court on Nov. 15 as the civil rights leader sat with Arbery's family.

Gough insisted that prominent Black pastors such as Jackson and Sharpton, who was also at the trial, could influence the jury. The week before, Gough asked the judge to ban Black pastors from court and later apologized for it.

Gough objected to Jackson's presence in the public gallery on Nov. 15 inside the courtroom.

"How many pastors does that Arbery family have? We had the Rev. Al Sharpton here earlier last week... I don't know who Mr. Jackson, Rev. Jackson is pastoring here," Gough said.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said the guilty verdict of all three defendants in the death of Arbery is "not a celebration, it is a reflection to acknowledge that the spirit of Ahmaud defeated the lynch mob."

"We did this together. We said 'America, we will make us better than what we saw on that video,'" he said.

Crump, who represents Marcus Arbery Sr., praised both Arbery's father and mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones for enduring the trial. He said they are "still devastated because they're missing Ahmaud."

"You can't experience the pain of a mother and a father who witnessed what they witnessed not being there to protect their child," Crump said.

"Every parent in America can take solace in knowing that we have an example of how to deal with tragedy and grief when they look at the example of Marcus Arbery and Wanda Cooper. And we should applaud them."

When deciding their verdict, the jurors in the trial in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery had to weigh two different types of murder charges – malice murder and felony murder.

Travis McMichael was found guilty of malice murder while the other defendants, Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan Jr., were convicted on four and three of the counts of felony murder, respectively.

The difference between the charges has to do with intent, Elie Honig, CNN senior legal analyst, said.

Malice murder means that the jury determined that Travis McMichael intended to kill Ahmaud Arbery, and he did, Honig said. Travis McMichael was the person who shot Arbery. Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan Jr.'s felony murder convictions means that they intentionally committed the felony.

For context: Despite the different murder convictions, all three of the men could face possible life sentences.

Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of Ahmaud Arbery, spoke outside the courthouse after the verdicts were read. She told the crowd that was gathered that she wanted to say "Thank you."

Cooper-Jones said, "to tell you the truth, I never thought this day back in 2020." 

"I never thought this day would come. But God is good," she added.

She concluded by saying that her son can now "rest is peace."

"You know him as Ahmaud, I know him as 'Quez,' he will now rest in peace," she said

The family of Ahmaud Arbery and civil rights attorneys emerged from the courthouse in Glynn County, Georgia, with their arms raised and interlocked after three men were found guilty in his killing.

Observers raised their fists in solidarity.