Killing of Ahmaud Arbery - Federal Hate Crime Charges

[realist]

Did anyone note Greg McMicheal’s hand wave upon sentencing? Arrogant asshole until the end.

Yes.

[roadscholar]

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[LM K]

Did anyone note Greg McMicheal’s hand wave upon sentencing? Arrogant asshole until the end.

I missed this. Did he wave just after his sentence was read?

[LM K]

At approx 1:15?

[Foggy]

Life w/o parole + 20 years

That's kinda mean, keepin' a guy locked up for twenty years after he's dead.

'Course, I suppose they could put him outdoors someplace where he won't stink up the joint. He's a lot less of an escape risk after he assumes room temperature.

[Lani]

I admit I cried when I learned about Ahmaud Arbery's murder. I cried in relief when they were found guilty. I cried again today when I heard the sentences. Trayvon Martin's murder was shattering has well, and it hurt even more that the murderer got away with it. Maybe becuz I'm the single mom of a young man close in age to them. I can't imagine how I could go on if anything happened to him.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Damn, his mother was especially spot on, including a zinger about her son's toenails and maybe he'd have trimmed and cleaned them if he'd known he was going to be murdered that day.

That toenail comment by the defense counsel was so bizarre. I didn’t watch any of the closing arguments, so I don’t know whether the prosecution commented on that in rebuttal. I just remember reading about it here. But it was so stupid for the defense to put anything negative at all on the victim, unless it was to say that he was the aggressor. I know, it’s pretty obvious from the videos that he was not the aggressor, but if you’re going to talk about the victim, that’s about all you can say. Otherwise you say it was just a big tragic misunderstanding.

The comments about a Black person's toes are dog whistles. My dad called Brazil nuts "n*gg3r toes". " Eenie, meanie, minie, moe " ended with "catch a n*gg3r by the toe". That lawyer knew exactly what he was saying.

[Maybenaut]

Damn, his mother was especially spot on, including a zinger about her son's toenails and maybe he'd have trimmed and cleaned them if he'd known he was going to be murdered that day.

That toenail comment by the defense counsel was so bizarre. I didn’t watch any of the closing arguments, so I don’t know whether the prosecution commented on that in rebuttal. I just remember reading about it here. But it was so stupid for the defense to put anything negative at all on the victim, unless it was to say that he was the aggressor. I know, it’s pretty obvious from the videos that he was not the aggressor, but if you’re going to talk about the victim, that’s about all you can say. Otherwise you say it was just a big tragic misunderstanding.

The comments about a Black person's toes are dog whistles. My dad called Brazil nuts "n*gg3r toes". " Eenie, meanie, minie, moe " ended with "catch a n*gg3r by the toe". That lawyer knew exactly what he was saying.

Agreed. But it’s a stupid and risky strategy that only works if you have a racist on your jury.

But I was convinced the defense counsel themselves were racists when they asked the judge to keep the Black pastors out. What a bunch of assholes.

[roadscholar]

I admit I cried when I learned about Ahmaud Arbery's murder. I cried in relief when they were found guilty. I cried again today when I heard the sentences. Trayvon Martin's murder was shattering has well, and it hurt even more that the murderer got away with it. Maybe becuz I'm the single mom of a young man close in age to them. I can't imagine how I could go on if anything happened to him.

Seriously. If I had nothing left to live for, I would hunt down that smug pile of excrement Zimmerman and kill him myself. Slowly. Trayvon’s murder, unpunished, affected me severely.

Luckily for him, that is not the case.

[raison de arizona]

BREAKING: Gregory and Travis McMichael, convicted of murder in a state trial for killing Ahmaud Arbery, have reached a plea deal with prosecutors that could avoid their federal trial on hate crime charges. This backroom deal is a betrayal to the Arbery family.

Did the Arbery family want to go to through another trial?

Apparently, yes.

Ahmaud Arbery’s parents object to DOJ’s hate crime plea deal

https://apnews.com/article/ahmaud-arber ... 844599f899

[filly]

Of course we have to know what is in the deal to make an informed decision.

It's possible that the GQP dominated appellate courts in Georgia could vacate the convictions or send the case back for re-sentencing, so there's that concern.

I am pretty sure that the Arbery family wants all the racist texts that Travis engaged in aired publicly as these were kept out of the State trial. And I totally get that.

I just don't know about this DOJ.

[Volkonski]

CBS News
@CBSNews
BREAKING: Judge rejects plea deal on federal hate crimes for man convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery

[filly]

Kind of weird that there would be no writing memorializing any conversations the DOJ had with the Arbery's attorneys.

How about an email, starting with "confirming our conversation earlier today..." ? Maybe I should sell templates to the DOJ?

Edit: And to Lee Merritt, the Arbery's lawyer. Sheesh.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

The federal deal allowed their first 30 years to be spent in federal prisons. This is diametrically opposed to what Ahmaud’s parents wanted.

[LM K]

[LM K]

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan are going to trial on Mon, Jan 7 Feb 7.

Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael have decided to plead not guilty after their plea agreement was refused. Bryan never tried for a plea deal.

Charges:
Travis McMichael

*one count of interference with rights

*one count of attempted kidnapping

*one count of using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence


Gregory McMichael:

*one count of interference with rights

*one count of attempted kidnapping

*one count of using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence


William Bryan:

*one count of interference with rights

*one count of attempted kidnapping


Travis McMichael will be tried on federal hate crime charges after indicating he will not plead guilty in Ahmaud Arbery's killing

Travis McMichael will stand trial on federal hate crimes charges in the killing of 25-year-old Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery after indicating Friday he would not plead guilty, days after a judge rejected the terms of a plea deal he had reached with prosecutors.

Court documents filed Thursday showed Gregory McMichael, who had reached a similar deal with prosecutors, had opted to withdraw his agreement, plead not guilty and face trial as well.

As a result, jury selection in the federal trial will begin Monday.

Travis McMichael, his father and William "Roddie" Bryan all face one count of interference with rights and one count of attempted kidnapping, per a federal indictment. Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael also were charged with one count each of using, carrying and brandishing (and in Travis' case, discharging) a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.


The hearing came after US District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood on Monday rejected a proposed plea agreement with prosecutors: Under the deal, Travis McMichael had agreed to plead guilty to one count of interference with rights in exchange for prosecutors recommending he serve 30 years in federal prison, after which time he would have returned to Georgia to finish his sentence in the state case for Arbery's death. Five of those final years would have counted toward his supervised release from federal prison.

In agreeing to the deal, Travis McMichael would have conceded he killed Arbery as he ran down a public street, and he "acted because of Mr. Arbery's race or color."

Witnesses at Monday's hearing included an FBI special agent who testified that authorities had searched Travis McMichael's cell phone and social media accounts and found "frequent use of racial slurs" in reference to Black people.


Federal prison is "a country club when compared to state prison," Arbery's mother's attorney, S. Lee Merritt, said, noting federal facilities are less populated, better funded and "generally more accommodating."

The Arbery family was displeased prosecutors agreed to the deal without the family's consent, Merritt told CNN.


Bryan, the neighbor, was also in court Monday but did not have a proposed plea deal on the federal charges.

Gregory McMichael will face trial on federal hate crime charges in Ahmaud Arbery killing after withdrawing plea agreement

Gregory McMichael is expected to face trial on federal hate crime charges for his role in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery after withdrawing a plea agreement.

Attorneys for Gregory McMichael informed the court that the prior plea agreement over hate crime charges is null and void, according to court documents filed Thursday in federal district court. Trial proceedings are slated to begin Monday. He has pleaded not guilty.

The federal charges include one count of interference with rights and one count of attempted kidnapping, according to an indictment.

Gregory McMichael was found guilty on state charges and sentenced last month to life in prison for his role in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased and gunned down after jogging near Brunswick, Georgia.

Edit: Thank to those that alerted me to my oopsie!

[sugar magnolia]

The comparison is unavoidable.

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - It could be considered unthinkable...being shot at while simply doing your job. That’s what Federal Express driver said happened to him while making his rounds in Brookhaven.

His attorney believes he was targeted by two white men because he was Black. The Jackson resident said the incident has left him traumatized.

“I’m like they’re shooting at me, and she’s like they’re shooting at you. I’m like yes,” recalled D’Monterrio Gibson about the conversation he had with his Federal Express manager while escaping gunfire.

He said he was terrified as bullets struck the white Hertz delivery van. On January 24th Gibson said he’d just dropped off a package on Junior Trail in Brookhaven when he was followed closely by a man honking his horn in a white pickup. Police identified him as Gregory Case, a resident of Junior Trail.

“I drive down about two or three houses, there’s another guy standing in the middle of the road pointing a gun at my vehicle, and he’s mouthing the word stop and doing like this stop,” said Gibson. “So I just stared shaking my head like, ‘no I’m not gonna stop.’ I duck behind the steering wheel and I swerve around him as well, as I swerve around him he starts firing shots at the back of my vehicle and I’m hearing all the shots and I’m just ducking, because I don’t know if they’re coming inside or nothing”.

According to authorities, that man was 35-year-old Brandon Case, the son of Gregory Case. The father is charged with conspiracy, while the son faces an aggravated assault shooting into an occupied vehicle charge.

“We believe those are too light charges. We believe this is attempted murder,” said Gibson’s attorney Carlos Moore. “They had no justification under the law to do what they did. This man had done nothing wrong, and we believe it was racially motivated.”

Gibson said the police department allowed the Cases to turn themselves in for more than a week after the shooting and believes they are related to the assistant chief, Chris Case.

According to Brookhaven Police Chief Kenneth Collins, Case was never involved in the investigation and he was informed by Case that he is not related to the father and son. MBI and the FBI are investigating.

Gibson’s attorney wants the case handled as a hate crime and is calling on action from the Department of Justice. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old Jackson resident said he is in therapy and has taken unpaid leave from his job.

“I just want to see justice at this point,” said the delivery driver.

Gibson, a Forest Hill High School graduate, began working for Federal Express in July 2021.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

"Unpaid leave!!!!!!!???????". FedEx should be paying him or he should receive benefits under Workers' Compensation!

[filly]

"Unpaid leave!!!!!!!???????". FedEx should be paying him or he should receive benefits under Workers' Compensation!

Time for FedEx to go through some things. Twitter army needs to engage.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

It has started .
https://www.mississippifreepress.org/20 ... eliveries/

Black FedEx Driver Says White Men Chased, Shot At Him During Deliveries

NEW: D'Monterrio Gibson, a Black FedEx driver, says he was delivering packages in Brookhaven, Mississippi, when a white man in a pickup truck tried to block him in and another allegedly began firing bullets into his delivery truck.

[raison de arizona]

Gibson said FedEx initially put him back on the same route after the shooting, but he resisted returning to work in Brookhaven.

“I’m actually on unpaid time-off because I told them I was uncomfortable and I was very anxious about being on that route. And they said they were going to do what they could about changing the route for me,” he said.

That's pretty low of Fedex.

[LM K]

Trial begins tomorrow, Mon, Feb 14.

Judge in Arbery death federal trial to seat jury Monday

The federal judge presiding over the hate crimes trial of three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery said she will seat a jury Monday after a week spent asking potential jurors what they already know about the Black man's death as well as their views on racism in America.

U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said Friday she's ready to start the trial with 64 people deemed qualified to serve as impartial jurors. That pool will be narrowed to a main jury of 12 plus four alternates Monday, when the judge also expects attorneys to make opening statements.


A judge last month sentenced the McMichaels and Bryan to life in prison for their murder convictions. But they still face a federal trial on hate crime charges, which allege that they violated Arbery's civil rights and targeted him because he was Black.

All three men have pleaded not guilty in the federal case. The judge said she expects the hate crimes trial to last between seven and 12 days.

The judge and attorneys worked Monday through Friday to interview more than 160 potential jurors pulled from 43 counties across southern and eastern Georgia. Nearly two-thirds of them were dismissed for having strong opinions about the case after watching portions of the state murder trial or news reports about it.

Some of the 64 jury pool members returning to the courthouse Monday said they knew little about the case. They include a man, identified in court only as juror No. 421, who on Friday told the judge: "The only thing I really know is that it’s a high-profile case and there might be a video related to it.”

Others were able to persuade the judge they could set aside what they know and hear the federal trial based solely on the evidence presented in court. One of them, a woman identified as juror No. 422, said she had negative feelings about the McMichaels and Bryan because they didn't seem to show remorse in the state trial, but insisted she could still be fair.

The search for an impartial jury in federal court came just a week after attorneys announced the McMichaels planned to plead guilty in the federal case in a deal with prosecutors that quickly fell apart. The judge noted only one or two potential jurors said they were aware of that.

[LM K]

So far the defense for all 3 defendants is "yes, they're racists, and racism is bad, but they didn't kill Arbery because he was black."


The prosecutor's opening statement outlined the defendants' use of racial slurs

A federal prosecutor opened the hate crimes trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers on Monday afternoon by describing racist views that the three men had previously expressed, in some cases by using the coarsest of slurs.

The men, who were convicted of murder in a state court last year, had made erroneous assumptions about Mr. Arbery, the prosecutor said, because of the color of his skin.

“At the end of the day, the evidence in this case will prove that if Ahmaud Arbery had been white, he would have gone for a jog, checked out a house under construction and been home in time for Sunday supper. Instead he went out for a jog, and he ended up running for his life. Instead he ended up bleeding to death, alone and scared, in the middle of the street.”

The opening statement by Bobbi Bernstein, a lawyer with the Justice Department’s civil rights division, laid out in the starkest terms the racism that the government believes to be at the heart of the decision by the three men — Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis McMichael, 36, and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — to pursue Mr. Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, through their neighborhood on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2020.


Ms. Bernstein also laid out some of the evidence of the men’s racist thinking — thinking that the prosecution will use to buttress the argument that the men chased Mr. Arbery because he was Black.

She said Travis McMichael referred to Black people as “animals,” “criminals,” “monkeys,” “subhuman savages” and “niggers,” including in an electronic exchange with a friend who had sent a video of a Black man sticking a firecracker up his nose.

It would have been “cooler,” Mr. McMichael replied, using a racial slur, if the firecracker had blown the man’s head off.

Ms. Bernstein, in her arguments, repeated the racial epithets aloud, underscoring the ugliness of the men’s language. Although some of the evidence had been foreshadowed in court documents, it was jarring to hear it spoken for the first time in open court.

Ms. Bernstein also described a time that Gregory McMichael had ranted against Black people to a work colleague and described his animosity toward the civil rights leader Julian Bond, who had recently died.

The prosecutor also said that Mr. Bryan, just days before the chase of Mr. Arbery, had used a racist slur when referring to a Black man that his daughter had been dating, and called him a monkey.

Ms. Bernstein said that Mr. Bryan knew nothing about Mr. Arbery’s visits to a house under construction in the neighborhood — one of the main reasons that the McMichaels had been suspicious of Mr. Arbery, who had stopped by that house moments before they began to chase him.

She said that Mr. Bryan simply saw an unarmed Black man running down the street, being chased by men in a truck. His first thought, she said, was to help the pursuers. So he too gave chase.

Gregory McMichael thought he was protecting his neighborhood, his lawyer said

A lawyer representing Gregory McMichael, one of three men charged with federal crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, argued in his opening statement on Monday that racism against Black Americans was not at the heart of what happened on the day that Mr. Arbery was killed.

Instead, he said that Mr. McMichael was motivated by a legitimate concern about a rash of break-ins in his suburban neighborhood near Brunswick, Ga.

A.J. Balbo was the first defense lawyer to make an opening statement to the jury on Monday. He argued that his client, Mr. McMichael, 66, did not racially profile Mr. Arbery or make assumptions based on his skin color.

Although he called Mr. Arbery’s death “an American tragedy,” Mr. Balbo said his client had probable cause for his actions that day, shaped by his knowledge of recent neighborhood thefts, along with a video that showed Mr. Arbery in a home under construction.

Mr. Balbo argued that Mr. McMichael chased Mr. Arbery “not because he was a Black man, but because he was the man” who had entered the construction site repeatedly while jogging through the neighborhood.

Mr. Balbo acknowledged that the use of racial epithets by Mr. McMichael — which federal prosecutors presented during their opening statement to demonstrate that the defendant harbored racist attitudes — would make some “cringe,” but said that it had happened 15 to 20 years ago and did not play a role in Mr. Arbery’s death.

He also said that it was Mr. McMichael who had made the decision to release the damning video of the chase and killing of Mr. Arbery, which was central to the murder conviction of the three men in state court. He offered it as a sign that Mr. McMichael genuinely did not believe that he had done anything wrong.

[LM K]

Travis McMichael's lawyer argued that his racist statements were unconnected to his actions

The lawyer for Travis McMichael, the man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery, told a jury on Monday that despite some of the ugly things they would learn about her client — including his racist statements — Mr. McMichael was nonetheless not guilty of the federal crimes with which he has been charged, including a hate crime count.

In her opening statement, the lawyer, Amy Lee Copeland, said that her client’s racist slurs were not words she used, and that his racist “opinions” were not thoughts she shared. She acknowledged that they were hard to hear.


But Ms. Copeland asked the jury to consider the context of this evidence of racism, which a Justice Department prosecutor had just laid out for the jury. Specifically, Ms. Copeland asked them to consider whether the racist comments were connected to any specific acts. In so doing, Ms. Copeland appeared to be priming the jury for an argument that the proven racism of her client was not connected to his decision to chase Mr. Arbery that day.

Ms. Copeland said that the federal government would introduce evidence of Mr. McMichael’s “vigilante” statements on Facebook — statements, she said, that included calls to “arm up,” and another about “playing with fire on this side of the neighborhood.”

But in an echo of Mr. McMichael’s unsuccessful defense in state court — where, in November, he, his father and a third pursuer of Mr. Arbery were found guilty of murder — Ms. Copeland said that Mr. McMichael’s concern about crime in his neighborhood, as expressed on social media, showed that he was trying to be a “good neighbor” and help out — even, she said, if this effort to help had “disastrous results.”

William Bryan joined the chase of Ahmaud Arbery assuming he had done something wrong, his lawyer said

William Bryan was not motivated by race when he joined Travis and Gregory McMichael in the chase of Ahmaud Arbery in February 2000, Mr. Bryan’s lawyer, J. Pete Theodocion, told a jury during opening statements on Monday.

Rather, Mr. Theodocion said, his client assumed that Mr. Arbery might have done something “tremendously serious” to warrant being chased by the two men. “The natural assumption that he made, that anyone would make, was that they had to be chasing him for a reason,” Mr. Theodocion said.

Mr. Bryan was in front of his house when he saw the McMichaels pursuing Mr. Arbery in their pickup. He joined them in his own pickup, trying to cut Mr. Arbery off, and eventually forcing him into a ditch. At one point, federal prosecutors said during their own opening statement on Monday, Mr. Bryan hit Mr. Arbery, denting his truck.

But Mr. Theodocion said that Mr. Bryan, who made a video of the moment when Travis McMichael fatally shot Mr. Arbery, had been trying to pull up alongside Mr. Arbery and get video evidence of the unarmed man, in case it turned out that he had committed a serious crime.

Mr. Bryan, who has already been convicted of Mr. Arbery’s murder in state court, now faces a federal hate crime charge and an attempted kidnapping charge. Mr. Theodocion said that his client was innocent of both. The hate crime charge is predicated on the assumption that Mr. Bryan was trying to deprive Mr. Arbery of his right to use a public street, but Mr. Theodocion said that had nothing to do with his client’s motive.

Mr. Bryan was just trying to help out, Mr. Theodocion said, and was not obsessed with race. Mr. Bryan, he said, would have chased Mr. Arbery “whether he was white, Hispanic or Asian.”

Mr. Theodocion acknowledged that it would be difficult for the jury not to decide this case “based on emotion,” given the racist views expressed by his client and the other two defendants. “I’m not here to suggest there’s any excuse for racism,” Mr. Theodocion said, calling it “the lowest of human emotions.”

[LM K]

Jury was ordered to be sequestered yesterday.

Prosecuion witnesses began testifying today.

According to a court order signed Monday by Judge Lisa Godbey Wood, the jury in the Ahmaud Arbery federal hate crimes trial is being sequestered “throughout the course of the trial.”

A jury of eight white members, three Black people and one Hispanic person was sworn in Monday to hear the case.

The order, which News4JAX obtained from the federal court docket, says the decision to sequester was made “to protect the jury from trial publicity, extraneous influences and harassment” and “to ensure Defendants a fair trial.”

That federal trial for the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery continued Tuesday with prosecutors calling their first witnesses.


1st witnesses testify

The prosecution’s witness list is long and includes several neighbors, as well as current and former members of the Glynn County police department, the sheriff’s office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

By noon, two neighbors had taken the stand to testify about what they saw the day Arbery was shot and killed. One of those neighbors, Daniel Allcott, said the shooting took place in front of his home.

He talked about how he and his family were inside when they heard the three shots being fired and then later saw Arbery’s body in the street. He said he later gave Arbery’s family permission to put a memorial on his property. During cross-examination, Travis McMichael’s attorney asked Allcott if he saw Travis McMichael display happiness or joy after the shooting.

Allcott said, “No.”

She then asked, “Did Travis McMichael ever approach you about removing the memorial?”

Allcott replied, “No.”

Then during redirect, the prosecutor asked Allcott: “Did you see Travis McMichael render aid to the man dead in the street?”

Allcott said, “No.”

She continued: “Did Greg McMichael express concern for the man dead in the street?”

Again, the answer was “No.”

Allcott, who is white, also testified that he was an avid runner in the Satilla Shores neighborhood and had never been accosted, stopped, or chased while going for a run.

The jurors also heard from Matt Albenze, the neighbor who first spotted Arbery inside a home under construction in the neighborhood. Albenze testified that he had seen that homeowner’s surveillance video showing a Black person inside the home and after seeing Arbery on the property that day, he felt the need to call the police department’s non-emergency line.

Albenze told the court “it seemed suspicious” and it was a “see something, say something” type of situation.

The defense attorney for Greg McMichael also said Albenze was seen on surveillance making a motion with his arms seconds after Arbery ran past him as he was on the phone with police. The McMichaels’ truck was then seen driving off in the same direction as Arbery.

Albenze testified he was not motioning to anyone in particular.

Glynn County Police Department Sgt. Sheila Ramos, who gathered evidence, and GBI investigator Richard Dial, who found probable cause in the state case, also testified Tuesday.

Arbery’s family leaves courtroom

Arbery’s family was seen going inside the federal courthouse Tuesday morning, including his father and several aunts. Arbery’s family said before Tuesday’s session began that they were ready to hear the testimony.

“There’s a lot of evidence the state had that they didn’t put out, like the racial part,” Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., said. “So, the feds are going to bring all that. That’s what we want the world to see.”

But there were moments when the Arbery family left the courtroom Tuesday when the cellphone video of Ahmaud Arbery being chased and murdered was played for the jury and the 25-year-old’s body was shown lying on the ground.

Ramos said she took approximately 200 photos of the day of the shooting. Those included Arbery’s bloodied body, gunshot wounds, the neighborhood where he died and pellets from a shotgun stuck in a neighborhood’s wall.

On the stand, Dial testified that “both Travis and Greg McMichael said they did point their guns at Arbery” and that Arbery had “no weapon, merchandise, backpack, cellphone or wallet.” Dial said he only had on clothes and shoes.

During recess, Greg McMichael’s wife and Arbery’s family were seen in the courthouse.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said Monday that nothing about this trial will be any easier because the family has been through it before.

“It’s going to be hard. Ahmaud was killed. Ahmaud was killed almost two years ago, and knowing that Ahmaud was killed because he was Black, it’s going to be harder,” Cooper-Jones said. “I think that we’ll get another victory out of this. I think it’s going to be a long, long hard trial.”

Barbara Arnwine, who has been supportive of the Arbery family, said she doesn’t understand why the three defendants won’t enter a guilty plea.

“You sometimes just wonder why don’t they just plead guilty. The evidence is so overwhelming. Why don’t they just plead?” said Arnwine, president of the Transformative Justice Coalition. “I mean they did the crime. They already got life sentences. The evidence is just so overwhelming.”

Arbery’s father said the actions of the McMichaels and Bryan bring shame to the community.

“I’m really disappointed in my town. I’m really disappointed that my children were born and raised here, and this kind of stuff went on,” Marcus Arbery said.

So far no one from the McMichaels or Bryan family has spoken.

I wish the trial was televised.


Edited to add judge's order.