The trial is beginning of three men accused of killing a black jogger last year in broad daylight in the US state of Georgia, and the community at the heart of the racially charged case is on tenterhooks.
Ahmaud Arbery was shot on 23 February 2020 in a confrontation with Gregory and Travis McMichael. It took more than two months for the men to be arrested, along with the neighbour who filmed the death.
Lawyers for Mr Arbery’s family have called his death a “modern-day lynching”. The McMichaels argue that they were defending themselves while trying to make a “citizen’s arrest”.
Mr Arbery’s mother tells BBC News that she plans to attend every day of the trial, in honour of her son.
Here’s what we know so far.
Who is on trial?
Gregory, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, and William Bryan – a neighbour who filmed a video of the confrontation – were arrested in May last year. They each face nine charges, including murder and aggravated assault. They have pleaded not guilty.
The case is expected to scrutinise whether the men’s actions were motivated by racism.
Prosecutors allege that Travis McMichael used a racial epithet and an expletive directed at Mr Arbery as he lay on the ground. The men deny racism.
Lawyers for the McMichaels last month asked a judge to ban mention of a decal on their car of the Confederate flag, which was flown by the pro-slavery southern states during the US Civil War. The men said it would be “prejudicial” to the jury, but failed to convince the judge, who said jurors could interpret it “in any way they deem appropriate”.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESHow did Arbery die?
Mr Arbery was out for an afternoon jog in the coastal city of Brunswick.
A neighborhood resident, Gregory McMichael, told police he believed Mr Arbery resembled the suspect in a series of local break-ins. Police have said no reports were filed regarding these alleged break-ins.
Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, armed themselves with a pistol and a shotgun and pursued Mr Arbery in a pickup truck through the neighborhood.
According to the elder McMichael, he and his son had said “stop, stop, we want to talk to you”.
He said Mr Arbery then attacked his son. Lawyers for Mr Arbury’s family have said the 25-year-old was unarmed.
Three shots were fired and Mr Arbery fell down on the street.
A post-mortem examination showed Mr Arbery had two gunshot wounds in his chest, and a gunshot graze wound on the inside of one of his wrists. He did not have drugs or alcohol in his system.
What is the latest in the case?
Jury selection finished at the beginning of November, with only one black member on the 12-person panel. Prosecutors have alleged that the defence team sought to illegally bar ethnic minorities during the selection period.
In cases involving issues such as racism, the selection process can be seen as hugely important to the outcome of the trial and how fair it is perceived. A lack of diversity could lead to questions about the legitimacy of the verdict.
Ahead of opening arguments, Greg McMichael’s lawyer told BBC News that the defence will hinge on a two-part strategy: citizen’s arrest and self-defence.
“They got in the truck to pursue Mr Arbery for the purpose of detaining him long enough for the police to arrive to take over and investigate whether in fact he had committed any crimes,” said lawyer Franklin Hogue.
“That turned from a citizen’s arrest into self-defence.”
On 8 November, the jury saw footage from police body-worn cameras in the moments just after Mr Arbery was killed. Prosecutors used the video in court in an effort to undermine the defence’s argument that the three men were simply trying to detain Mr Arbery.
“You had no choice,” the elder McMichael is heard telling his son, Travis, as the first officer approaches. Mr Arbery is shown on the ground, bleeding, just a few steps away.
The footage also shows neighbour William Bryan speak to police, and tell an officer that Mr Arbery had looked tired from the chase before he was shot dead.
“When I rounded the corner out there, it was almost like the black guy was tired of running,” he said.
Why has the case been delayed?
The case is currently on its fourth prosecutor.
Two local district attorneys had earlier recused themselves due to professional connections to the elder Mr McMichael – a former police detective and private investigator.
Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson – whose office initially handled the case – was charged in September with violating her oath of office and obstructing the arrest of the McMichaels immediately after the shooting. She has denied any wrongdoing.
The second district attorney involved, Waycross Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, had told police he believed the father and son had used citizen’s arrest rights in confronting the jogger, and that as a result there were no grounds for arrest.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESMr Barnhill recused himself, citing concerns raised by the victim’s mother over his ties to Mr McMichael.
Mr McMichael had previously been involved in an investigation of Mr Arbery, according to a letter written by Mr Barnhill.
Who was Ahmaud Arbery?
A former star high school football player, his father said he often exercised in the area.
His family has described him as a good, generous young man with a big heart.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESWhen Mr Arbery was in high school, he received five years of probation for a first-time weapons charge and in 2018, was convicted of probation violation for shoplifting, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.
It emerged that, in 2017, a Glynn County officer attempted to tase him after he denied their request to search his car at a park.
Police bodycam footage showed the encounter with officers, who said he was in a car in an area known for drug use. He said he was on his day off from work. The taser malfunctioned and he was allowed to leave on foot.
What is the footage in the case?
The first video surfaced publicly on 5 May 2020. The 36-second clip was filmed from a vehicle following Mr Arbery.
It shows Mr Arbery jogging, and approaching a stationary pickup truck which is ahead of him on the road.
He tries to bypass the truck and then is seen struggling with a man carrying a shotgun. There is muffled shouting and three gunshots are heard.
A second man is standing in the bed of the pickup. The second man is then shown with a pistol standing alongside the other armed man with the jogger no longer in view.
The clip – which sparked nationwide outcry swiftly followed by criminal charges – was leaked at the behest of Gregory McMichael because he thought it would make him and his son look better, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.
On 10 May 2020, another video emerged, showing a man believed to be Mr Arbery at a home construction site shortly before the shooting.
In the footage from a surveillance camera, a black man in a white T-shirt walks on to the site and is seen looking around for a few minutes before leaving and jogging down the street.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESLee Merritt, an attorney for Mr Arbery’s family, said in a statement that it was Mr Arbery in the clip, and that it confirms the young man was out for a jog and did nothing illegal.
Who is William Bryan?
Police arrested William “Roddie” Bryan, who filmed the first video, two weeks after the McMichaels. Mr Bryan, along with the two McMichaels, appeared to have been following Mr Arbery “in hot pursuit”, according to a memo by Mr Barnhill.
He is also mentioned in the Glynn County police report of the shooting, in which officers noted that Mr Bryan had unsuccessfully tried to block Mr Arbery’s path. Prosecutors say he was attempting to “confine and detain” Mr Arbery.
However, Mr Bryan told a local TV station that he “had nothing to do with it” and was in “complete shock”.
He did not answer questions on why he was there or why he started recording, but his lawyer said: “My client was responding to what he saw, which was someone in the community he didn’t know being followed by a vehicle he recognized.”
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGESIn a CNN interview, Mr Bryan said he was praying for the Arbery family and hoped his tape would help bring closure.
“If there wasn’t a tape, then we wouldn’t know what happened,” he said. “I hope that it, in the end, brings justice to the family and peace to the family.”
What do we know about the burglary claims?
Around the time of the incident, a number of emergency calls were made, CBS News has reported. In one, a neighbour said a black man was seen at a home under construction before later “running down the street”.
The dispatcher says: “I just need to know what he was doing wrong. Was he just on the premises and not supposed to be?”
The caller replies: “He’s been caught on the camera a bunch before at night. It’s kind of an ongoing thing out here.”
A neighbour told CNN that cameras on his property recorded a man that appeared to be Mr Arbery “trespassing” on 23 February 2020.
A lawyer for the homeowner later said it’s their belief that Mr Arbery had been looking for water. Security footage shows he was not the only person to enter the construction site – children from the neighbourhood were also filmed playing there.
Travis McMichael had also previously called 911 to report seeing a “black male, red shirt and white shorts”.
“When I turned around and saw him and backed up, he reached into his pocket and ran into the house,” Mr McMichael told the police. “So I don’t know if he’s armed or not. But he looked like, he was acting like he was.”
Police records show one report of theft in the neighbourhood between 1 January and 23 February 2020, US media report. That incident involved a gun being reported stolen from a pickup truck outside the home of Travis McMichael on 1 January.
What does Arbery’s family say?
Mr Arbery’s family have expressed distrust of local law enforcement and say police attempted to “cover-up” the death.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES“Ahmaud was happy. Ahmaud was love,” his mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, told the BBC’s Aleem Maqbool. “And I hope that as the jurors see me sitting there they will see me in that light as well,” she said.
“I hope that in losing Ahmaud, that people that look like Ahmaud will be able to jog and be free and not to be worried about being chased with guns and being killed.”
Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the family, has asked for the same justice for Mr Arbery if the situations were reversed and two black men had attacked an unarmed white man.
“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt they would’ve been arrested on day one,” Mr Crump said.
What’s the law in Georgia?
Under the citizen’s arrest law, an individual could detain someone they had seen committing a serious crime and if the suspect was trying to escape.
The state law, which dates back to the American Civil War era, was repealed in the wake of the incident.
Georgia was also one of only four states at the time with no hate crime statutes. Hate crime legislation has since been passed into law.
Is the federal government involved in this case?
In a separate trial due to begin next year, a federal grand jury has accused them of hate crimes and attempted kidnap of Mr Arbery. They have pleaded not guilty.
In a statement, the US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of Georgia said the three men were charged with allegedly interfering with Mr Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.
They are also accused of attempting “to unlawfully seize and confine Arbery by chasing after him in their trucks in an attempt to restrain him”.
Gregory and Travis McMichael are each further charged with a count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm. Travis is also charged with discharging the firearm.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.