The three men convicted of Ahmaud Arbery's murder are demanding a new trial

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – The three men convicted in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery returned to court Thursday to request a new trial.

Lawyers for Arbery's killers, Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their former neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, made a series of arguments in hopes of getting a new trial – claims including a bad jury and ineffective lawyers. However, the family says they are not worried about their son's killers going free.

“You already killed my son once, why do you have to keep doing this and killing my family,” said Marcus Arbery, the victim's father, “This world needs to move forward, and when people get caught up in the injustice,” you have to do it be counted. Do you have time, sit down, shut up.”

Ahmaud Arbery's family describes the ongoing push for freedom by the three men convicted of killing Arbery in 2020 as a wound that keeps being reopened.

The three have already been convicted by the state of Georgia and in federal court.

The McMichaels grabbed guns and chased Arbery in a pickup truck after they saw him running past their home in February 2020.

It happened in a neighborhood outside of Brunswick.

Bryan joined the chase in his truck and recorded cell phone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range.

No arrests were made in Arbery's killing for more than two months, until Bryan's cellphone video leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from police.

“The evidence is there, the facts are there why this family continues to torture,” said Gary Arbery, the victim's uncle.

Seeking a new trial is the first step for the three defendants to challenge their murder convictions. Judge Walmsley sentenced both McMichaels to life in prison without parole and gave Bryan a chance at parole.

Marcus Arbery, Ahmaud's father, says every time he returns to court it feels like a slap in the face.

“Just because given all the evidence they have that they killed my son for nothing just because he was black, I just thought it was over,” Arbery said.

The family says they are not worried about the verdict being overturned, just anger and pain because they continue to go through this.

Byran's current attorney says he doesn't expect a positive ruling from the court since it has already ruled on many of these issues, but he says this motion is still a good step in any case when people are facing life in prison .

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