In a state that didn't have a hate-crime law until this year and where vigilante citizens' arrests were sometimes permitted by the government, three white men are set to go on trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man prosecutors allege was "hunted down and ultimately executed" while out for a Sunday jog.

Lee Merritt and Benjamin Crump, the Arbery family attorneys, have called the killing a "modern-day lynching" and said the accused are now trying to use Georgia's laws at the time of Arbery's death to defend their actions.

The three defendants are Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired police officer, his son, Travis McMichael, 35, and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 52.

Since Arbery's killing in February 2020, the case has frequently been in the national spotlight as protesters took to the streets for days to demand the suspects be arrested and as two district attorneys recused themselves.

Former Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson, the first prosecutor to get the case and who once had a working relationship with Gregory McMichael, was indicted in September on a felony count of violating her oath of office by allegedly "showing favor and affection" to Gregory McMichael and a misdemeanor count of hindering a law enforcement officer.

Travis and Gregory McMichael were arrested on May 7, 2020, more than two months after Arbery's death.

The footage shows Arbery attempting to go around the McMichaels' parked vehicle only to run into Travis McMichael.

The video shows the two men fighting and Travis McMichael firing the first shotgun blast, hitting Arbery in the chest, his white T-shirt immediately seen soaked in blood.

Bryan, who took the video as he drove up on the scene in his truck, was arrested about two weeks after Travis and Gregory McMichael.

Investigators allege that Gregory McMichael and his son armed themselves and chased after Arbery in their pickup truck.

During the June preliminary hearing, Richard Dial, a special agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, testified that Bryan told investigators that he heard Travis McMichael yell a racial slur to Arbery as he lay dying on the ground

Carlson said the trial judge might seek to strike a balance and not allow prosecutors to introduce racist messages they allege Travis McMichael texted to friends or his vanity license plate of the Confederate flag