Murder Trial – 20 months after Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down, 3 men

20 months after Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down 3 men – Jury selection begins this morning in the trial of three men accused in a high-profile murder that sparked nationwide protests and sent Georgia lawmakers scrambling to rewrite the state’s statutes.

Cellphone video of the killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery taken by one of the defendants will be central to the trial. Issues of race, cronyism and justice will loom large during the trial of three white men accused of chasing and shooting a Black man running through their neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020.

On trial are Greg and Travis McMichael, a father and son who chased Arbery in a pickup truck with weapons while the Arbery jogged through their neighborhood. Their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, is also accused of murder. He recorded video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun.

Greg McMichael told police his son shot Arbery in self-defense after Arbery used his fists to attack. Attorneys for the defendants claim they are innocent.

Greg McMichael told police they thought Arbery looked like a man suspected of break-ins in the area. The Brunswick News obtained documents through a public-records request showing there had been just one burglary in the neighborhood since January—a handgun reported stolen from an unlocked truck parked outside Travis McMichael’s house.

No one disputes that McMichael, son of the Brunswick District Attorney’s Office investigator Greg McMichael, shot and killed Arbery, but he was not immediately charged because Travis McMichael claimed he was acting within the scope of a citizen’s arrest.

The three defendants were arrested three months later after the shooting when the cellphone video showing Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range was released.

The graphic video shows Arbery running along a residential road when he encountered a white pickup stopped with one man standing outside the driver’s stoor and another standing in the truck bed. Arbery briefly moves out of the camera frame before a shotgun blast is heard. Next, Arbery and the man who was driving the truck were seen in a tussle before Arbery was shot two more times.

After the video was released, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was asked to take over the case. Within two days, Greg and Travis McMichael were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault. Two weeks after that, Bryan was arrested and charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

According to Glynn County Superior Court Clerk Ronald Adams, it could take two weeks or longer to seat a jury of 12 with four alternates to hear the case. Adams said 1,000 people in Glynn County were mailed jury summons.

The large number of potential jurors reflects the challenges the court faces in finding impartial jurors in a case that has drawn this much attention and public outcry.

On Monday morning, 600 potential jurors are to report to the courthouse annex. Adams said the additional 400 will be on standby to appear the following Monday if there are not enough qualified jurors chosen from the first 600.

Potential jurors were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking whether they have been following the case. They will face more questions from a team of prosecutors and defense lawyers — most from other parts of Georgia — in a trial presided over by a superior court judge brought in from Savannah.

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Last Updated on October 18, 2021 by 247 News Around The World