The jury in the trial of three white men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery (pictured) has reached a verdict
All three defendants in the Ahmaud Arbery trial were found guilty of murdering the black jogger in February 2020.
Gunman Travis McMichael was found guilty on the charge of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
As McMichael’s first guilty verdict was read out, Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, yelled out ‘Woohoo!,’ briefly delaying the reading of the other verdicts as he was removed from the courtroom.
His mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, she sobbed aloud as the first verdict was read: ‘Oh!’
She put her head to her chest as she wept, while civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton gripped her hand.
McMichael’s attorney, Jason Sheffield, said he is planning to appeal the guilty verdict, adding that this is a very hard day for Travis and his father, Gregory McMichael, who was also convicted of murder.
The conviction carries a minimum sentence of life in prison. It is up to the judge to decide whether that comes with or without the possibility of parole.
Neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
He was found not guilty of malice murder and one count each of felony murder and aggravated assault.
‘It’s been a long fight, it’s been a hard fight, but God is good,’ Cooper-Jones told reporters outside the courthouse.
‘To tell you the truth I never saw this day back in 2020. I never thought this day would come but God is good. I just wanted to tell everybody thank you, thank you, for those who marched, those who prayed. Thank you God.
Adopting her son’s nickname since boyhood, she added: ‘You know him as Ahmaud, I know him as Quez, he will now rest in peace. ‘
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing Marcus Arbery in a civil proceeding, said in a statement to DailyMail.com: ‘Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. After nearly two years of pain, suffering, and wondering if Ahmaud’s killers would be held to account, the Arbery family finally has some justice.
‘Nothing will bring back Ahmaud, but his family will have some peace knowing the men who killed him will remain behind bars and can never inflict their brand of evil on another innocent soul. While today is not one for celebration, it is one for reflection.’
Travis McMichael, looking red-faced, turned to leave the courtroom and mouthed ‘love you’ to his mother, Leigh.
‘I’m floored, floored with a capital ‘F,” Laura Hogue, one of Gregory McMichael’s lawyers, said in the courtroom.
‘This is a very difficult day for Travis McMichael and Greg McMichael,’ Sheffield echoed. ‘These are two men who honestly believed that what they were doing was the right thing to do. However, a Glynn County jury has spoken. They have found them guilty. They will be sentenced.’
‘That is a very disappointing and sad verdict for myself and for Bob and for our team, but we also recognize that this is a day of celebration for the Arbery family. We cannot tear our eyes away from the way they feel about this. They feel they have gotten justice today. We respect that. We honor that. Because we honor this jury trial system.’
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley, who presided over the trial for their state charges, has not yet set a sentencing date for the three men.
The men face minimum sentences of life in prison. It is up to the judge to decide whether that comes with or without the possibility of parole.
The three men have also been indicted on separate federal hate crime charges, including interference with rights and attempted kidnapping. The McMichaels were also charged with using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. All three men pleaded not guilty.
The federal trial is set to take place in February. If convicted, they could each face an additional penalty of up to life in prison. Since the defendants were being held on state charges, a federal bond hearing has not been set.
Gunman Travis McMichael (pictured Wednesday with his attorney) was found guilty on the charge of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony
Gregory McMichael (right, pictured Wednesday with his attorneys) was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. He was found not guilty of malice murder (Judge Timothy Walmsley on left)
Neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan (pictured in court Wednesday) was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. He was found not guilty of malice murder and one count each of felony murder and aggravated assault
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, is hugged by a supporter after the jury convicted Travis McMichael of murder
Arbery’s family and supporters are shown holding hands as they exit the courthouse (Pictured Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, Reverend Al Sharpton, Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, and attorney Ben Crump)
Travis McMichael was pictured handcuffed and being escorted out of the courthouse after he was found guilty on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony
After the verdicts were read out, Arbery’s family watched the verdicts from an overflow room beside the court, saying they ‘finally have some justice’. They clapped and cried out as jurors returned their verdicts before the trio were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing.
Yvon Arbery, 57, the deceased’s aunt told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s just so much joy. I feel so much satisfaction, thank you God. This is going to bring big change to Brunswick, Georgia and the rest of the country. It will show everybody know that you cannot have this hatred in your heart and you cannot get away with this anymore.’
Marcus Arbery said he hoped the verdict would prove a healing moment for a bitterly divided America.
‘Ya’ll pulled together and worked this thing. That’s what it’s all about. We conquered that lynch mob,’ he told the crowd, to cheers and applause.
He added: ‘For real all lives matter, not just blacks. We don’t want to see nobody go through this. I don’t want to see no daddy watch their kid get shot down like that day.
‘It’s all our problem. Let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep doing it and making this place a better place for all human beings. Love everybody. All human beings need to be treated equally. Today is a good day.’
Outside the courthouse, a crowd of more than 100 people huddled around a loudspeaker in hushed silence to hear proceedings over a livestream.
A huge roar erupted as each guilty verdict rang out, with bystanders raising their fists in solidarity with the dead black man.
Others waved aloft Black Lives Matters flags and hugged one another in celebration, relieved and jubilant that jurors had decided the racially-charged case in the Arbery family’s favor.
As it became clear the trio were guilty of the majority of charges the cheers gave way to repeated chants of ‘say his name’, ‘enough is enough’ and ‘Ahmaud Arbery, Ahmaud Arbery’.
On the day of Arbery’s killing, father and son Gregory, 65, and Travis McMichael, 35, grabbed guns and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue the 25-year-old black jogger after seeing him running in the coastal suburb of Satilla Shores on Feb. 23, 2020.
Their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, 52, joined the pursuit in his own pickup and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery.
Leah Baker, 52, a Brunswick resident, said: ‘I’m so thankful, I’m grateful – this is most definitely the right verdict.
‘Because of the legacy of slavery, of history, of the Trayvon Martin case, I was worried they would create enough doubt with the self defense thing. We are a small city and we have made nationwide history in the cause of black people and equality.’
‘This case, by all accounts, should have been opened and closed…the violent stalking and lynching of Ahmaud Arbery was documented on video for the world to witness. But yet, because of the deep cracks, flaws, and biases in our systems, we were left to wonder if we would ever see justice,’ said Crump.
‘Today certainly indicates progress, but we are nowhere close to the finish line. America, you raised your voices for Ahmaud. Now is not the time to let them quiet. Keep marching. Keep fighting for what is right. And never stop running for Ahmaud.’
President Joe Biden also issued a statement following the verdicts, saying Arbery’s killing was a ‘devastating reminder of how far we have to go in the fight for racial justice’ in America.
‘Mr. Arbery should be here today, celebrating the holidays with his mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, and his father, Marcus Arbery. Nothing can bring Mr. Arbery back to his family and to his community, but the verdict ensures that those who committed this horrible crime will be punished,’ Biden said.
‘While the guilty verdicts reflect our justice system doing its job, that alone is not enough. Instead, we must recommit ourselves to building a future of unity and shared strength, where no one fears violence because of the color of their skin.
‘My administration will continue to do the hard work to ensure that equal justice under law is not just a phrase emblazoned in stone above the Supreme Court, but a reality for all Americans.’
Ahmaud Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery, center, his hugged by Ben Crump after the jury convicted Travis McMichael
Reverend Al Sharpton and Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of Ahmaud Arbery, raise their hands outside the Glynn County Courthouse. The family says they now ‘finally have some justice’
William ‘Roddie’ Bryan was escorted out of the courthouse Wednesday in handcuffs after being found guilty of murder by a Georgia jury
Travis McMichael was shown leaving the courthouse after the trial. He turned and mouthed ‘love you’ to his mother, Leigh, before he was taken out of the courtroom
Outside the Georgia courthouse, demonstrators were seen cheering, crying and celebrating the verdict
Protestors, civil rights leaders and pastors from across the nation have assembled in Glynn County throughout the duration of the trial, pushing for justice for Arbery and offering support to his family
People react after the jury reached a guilty verdict in the trial of William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael
Gregory McMichael was escorted out of court in handcuffs. A sentencing date for the three men convicted of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder has not yet been set
Rev. Al Sharpton arrived at the Glynn County Courthouse on Wednesday with Ahmaud Arbery’s parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones (Left) and Marcus Arbery (Right). The civil rights leader held Cooper-Jones’ hand in court while she put her head to her chest and wept as the guilty verdict was read
After being sworn in more than two weeks ago, the disproportionately white jury heard from more than two dozen witnesses – including gunman Travis McMichael, the only defendant to take the witness stand – and was presented with evidence photos, police body camera video, autopsy reports and more.
The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a fleeing burglar when they armed themselves and jumped in a pickup truck to chase him.
Bryan joined the pursuit when they passed his house and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery at close range with a shotgun as Arbery threw punches and grabbed for the weapon.
During the trial, the prosecution aimed to prove the defendants wrongly assumed the worst about Arbery and sought to rebut arguments that they were attempting a valid citizen’s arrest, which required that someone have ‘reasonable and probable’ suspicion that a person is fleeing a serious crime they committed.
‘They made their decision to attack Ahmaud Arbery in their driveways because he was a black man running down the street,’ Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said during her closing arguments.
They killed him ‘not because he’s a threat to them, but because he wouldn’t stop and talk to them,’ she alleged.
The state claimed there was no evidence Arbery had committed crimes in the defendants’ neighborhood.
Defense attorneys contend the McMichaels were attempting a legal citizen’s arrest when they set off after Arbery, seeking to detain and question him as a suspected burglar after he was seen running from a nearby home under construction.
Travis McMichael testified that he shot Arbery in self-defense, saying the running man turned and attacked with his fists while running past the idling truck where Travis McMichael stood with his shotgun.
Defense attorney, Jason Sheffield, said his client had ‘reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion’ to follow the 25-year-old in his truck because he believed he was a burglar.
He added that although Arbery was not armed with a weapon, Travis McMichael said he had reached into his shirt as if for a weapon, and he was also armed with his fists.
‘Travis felt something is not right…Aggravated assault is a felony that can be committed by the use of fists. Fists are a weapon. And right now as Ahmaud Arbery is running towards Travis McMichael he could have a gun and he definitely has fists,’ Sheffield said.
On a 911 call the jury reviewed on day two of deliberations, Gregory McMichael told an operator: ‘I’m out here in Satilla Shores. There’s a black male running down the street.’
He then starts shouting, apparently as Arbery is running toward the McMichael’s idling truck with Bryan’s truck coming up behind him: ‘Stop right there! Damn it, stop! Travis!’
Gunshots can be heard a few second later.
Arbery’s killing became part of a larger national reckoning on racial injustice after the graphic video of his death leaked online two months later and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case, quickly arresting the three men. Each of them is charged with murder and other crimes.
A nearly all-white jury was selected, and one of the defense lawyers – Kevin Gough – repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought the removal of black pastors and civil rights leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson from the courtroom.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said he was required to accept the ‘race-neutral’ reasons defense lawyers gave for the removal of all but one potential black juror.
Black activists said it showed again how the justice system was skewed against black Americans.
Three white men were convicted of murder on Wednesday for chasing and shooting Ahmaud Arbery as he ran in their Georgia neighborhood last year. The jury rejected their self-defense claim
Prosecutor Linda Dunikosk was photographed next to attorney Ben Crumps and prosecutor Larissa Ollivierre after the jury reached a guilty verdict for all three defendants in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial
All large crowd is shown cheering after they learn all three men charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder had been convicted
Ben Crump is pictured with other civil rights leaders outside the Glynn County courthouse after the jury announced a guilty verdict for all three men charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder
Protestors waved flags outside of the Glynn County courthouse
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, arrived at the courthouse Wednesday accompanied by high profile supporters including civil rights attorney Ben Crump and the Rev. Al Sharpton who took turns to demand jurors find the jogger’s alleged white killers guilty.
‘You see the defense lawyer talk about his long legs and his dirty toenails almost as if he’s like a runaway slave and that they are chasing him,’ said Crump.
‘They capture him and then they kill him. And the only question that remains is, is this jury going to give us a Jim Crow verdict? Or are they going to say in 2021 America we must be better than this?’
Crump, who has previously represented the families of George Floyd and Michael Brown, said Arbery did nothing to provoke Gregory McMichael, 65, his gunman son Travis McMichael, 35, and their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Brian, 52, before the fatal chase in February last year.
All three have pleaded not guilty to one count of malice murder, four of felony murder, two of aggravated assault, one of false imprisonment and one of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Cooper-Jones uttered a few brief words as she left the court with her legal team just after midday to take a lunch break. She told a well-wisher: ‘I’m doing good’.
Asked how her heart was, the anguished mom simply added: ‘Heavy’.
‘It harkens back to a Jim Crow-era type killing,’ Crump added. ‘You have a young black man who is minding his business and then ordinary white citizens suspect that they believe he’s done something criminal.
‘And instead of calling the police, instead of giving him his due process, they go out and they take the law into their own hands.’
Crump likened 25-year-old Arbery’s alleged ‘lynching’ to the killing of Trayvon Martin but he said that video evidence here should ensure the trio cannot successfully claim self-defense as George Zimmerman did in 2012.
‘We have a visual of everything that happened as he [Arbery] ran for his life. And I think that sets us apart because we literally see a young black man get lynched in broad daylight and 2020,’ Crump added.
‘If America can condone this, then all parents who have children of color, we can’t protect them and we can’t depend on the law to hold people accountable.
‘I looked at that video as a lawyer that then I looked at it as a black man who’s a parent of black children. And I said that we have to get justice in this matter. We have to get justice.’
Arbery’s slaying was captured on video and shared around the world.
The video showed Arbery running toward and then around an idling pickup truck before its driver, Travis McMichael, blasted him at close range with a shotgun.
Soon after the shooting, McMichael’s father, Gregory McMichael, told police how the pair had armed themselves, chased the young Black man and trapped him ‘like a rat.’
Bryan told officers he joined the pursuit and helped cut off Arbery’s escape.
The above map shows Ahmaud Arbery’s approximate path and locations of the events that occurred on February 23, 2020
In the video recorded by Bryan, Arbery can be seen trying to wrestle a shotgun from Travis McMichael’s hands
A nine-count indictment charged all three men with one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony, in this case false imprisonment.
Travis McMichael was convicted of all nine charges. Gregory McMichael was convicted of all charges except malice murder. Bryan was convicted of two counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony.
Malice and felony murder convictions both carry a minimum penalty of life in prison. The judge decides whether that comes with or without the possibility of parole. Even if the possibility of parole is granted, a person convicted of murder must serve 30 years before becoming eligible. Multiple murder convictions are merged for the purposes of sentencing.
Each count of aggravated assault carries a prison term of at least one year but not more than 20 years. False imprisonment is punishable by a sentence of one to 10 years in prison.
Ahmaud Arbery jury did not hear five key arguments – including that he was nicknamed ‘The Jogger’ for stealing from stores and running away and Travis McMichael called him a racial slur after he shot him
The jury in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial retired for 11 hours to consider a verdict after ten days of witness testimony and two days of closing arguments.
After being sworn in more than two weeks ago, the 12-member jury heard from more than two dozen witnesses, including gunman Travis McMichael – the only defendant to take the witness stand.
McMichael, 35, his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, and neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr., 52, pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment for the killing in the coastal suburb of Satilla Shores on February, 23, 2020. They were all found guilty of murder.
The defendants told police they thought Arbery was running from a crime and they wanted to make a citizen’s arrest – and claimed self defense during the trial.
Before they reached their verdict, the jury – made up of 11 white people and one black person – was presented with hours of testimony, investigator evidence photos, police body camera video, autopsy reports and more, but five key arguments were not allowed to be presented.
They included Arbery’s mental health records and criminal history, and the fact that trace amounts of THC were found in his blood after his death.
The judge also refused to allow evidence that claimed Arbery was known as ‘The Jogger’ in the neighborhood because he would jog to convenience stores, and run out with stolen goods, according to witnesses.
The jury was presented with hours of testimony, investigator evidence photos, police body camera video, autopsy reports and more, but five key arguments were not allowed to be presented
They included Arbery’s mental health records and criminal history, and the fact that trace amounts of THC were found in his blood after his death (Pictured: Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski carries an evidence bag during medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue’s testimony)
The judge also banned the prosecution for presenting evidence that the McMichaels had a history of sharing racist messages on social media, and that Travis McMichael called Arbery ‘a f****** n*****’ as Arbery lay dying on the street.
On the day of the killing, the jury heard that the McMichaels armed themselves and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue Arbery after he ran past their home from a nearby house under construction.
The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a fleeing burglar when they armed themselves and jumped in a pickup truck to chase him.
Bryan joined the pursuit when they passed his house and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery at close range with a shotgun as Arbery threw punches and grabbed for the weapon.
During the trial, the prosecution aimed to prove the defendants wrongly assumed the worst about Arbery and sought to rebut arguments that they were attempting a valid citizen’s arrest, which required that someone have ‘reasonable and probable’ suspicion that a person is fleeing a serious crime they committed.
‘They made their decision to attack Ahmaud Arbery in their driveways because he was a black man running down the street,’ Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said during her closing arguments.
They killed him ‘not because he’s a threat to them, but because he wouldn’t stop and talk to them,’ she alleged.
The state claimed there was no evidence Arbery had committed crimes in the defendants’ neighborhood.
Defense attorneys contend the McMichaels were attempting a legal citizen’s arrest when they set off after Arbery, seeking to detain and question him as a suspected burglar after he was seen running from a nearby home under construction.
Travis McMichael testified that he shot Arbery in self-defense, saying the running man turned and attacked with his fists while running past the idling truck where Travis McMichael stood with his shotgun.
Defense attorney, Jason Sheffield, said his client had ‘reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion’ to follow the 25-year-old in his truck because he believed he was a burglar.
He added that although Arbery was not armed with a weapon, Travis McMichael said he had reached into his shirt as if for a weapon, and he was also armed with his fists.
On the day of the killing, the jury heard that Travis McMichael (pictured in court on Nov. 4, 2021) and his father, Gregory McMichael, armed themselves and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue Arbery after he ran past their home from a nearby house under construction
Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael (left), and neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr. (right), have pleaded not guilty to charges including murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment for the killing in the coastal suburb of Satilla Shores on Feb. 23, 2020
‘Travis felt something is not right…Aggravated assault is a felony that can be committed by the use of fists. Fists are a weapon. And right now as Ahmaud Arbery is running towards Travis McMichael he could have a gun and he definitely has fists,’ Sheffield said.
On a 911 call the jury reviewed on day two of deliberations, Gregory McMichael told an operator: ‘I’m out here in Satilla Shores. There’s a black male running down the street.’
He then starts shouting, apparently as Arbery is running toward the McMichael’s idling truck with Bryan’s truck coming up behind him: ‘Stop right there! Damn it, stop! Travis!’
Gunshots can be heard a few second later.
They killed him ‘not because he’s a threat to them, but because he wouldn’t stop and talk to them,’ prosecutor Linda Dunikoski told the jury.
The defense, however, argued the defendants had a right and a neighborly obligation to jump in their pickup trucks and chase Arbery to detain him under Georgia’s since-repealed citizen’s arrest law because they had reason to believe he may have been connected to previous property crimes that had left the neighborhood on edge.
At one point during her closing argument, Gregory McMichaels’ attorney, painted a picture of Ahmaud Arbery as a frightening criminal who had been running around the McMichaels’ Satilla Shores neighborhood in ‘khaki short, sneakers without socks and ‘long, dirty toenails’.
They also allege McMichael fired his gun at Arbery in self-defense.
Arbery’s killing became part of a larger national reckoning on racial injustice after the graphic video of his death leaked online two months later and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case, quickly arresting the three men.
A nearly all-white jury was selected, and one of the defense lawyers – Kevin Gough – repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, sought the removal of black pastors and civil rights leaders including the Rev. Jesse Jackson from the courtroom.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said he was required to accept the ‘race-neutral’ reasons defense lawyers gave for the removal of all but one potential black juror, but said at the jury’s selection that it was ‘discriminatory’.
These are the key points the 11 white and one black juror did not hear:
Judge ruled Ahmaud Arbery’s mental health and criminal history were not relevant to the case
The defense alleged that Arbery suffered from schizoaffective disorder, citing a 2018 911 call in which his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones (holding a photo of Arbery outside the Glynn County courthouse on Tuesday) told the dispatcher her son would become violent if police were confrontational
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley ruled the defense could not submit any information regarding Ahmaud Arbery’s mental health or criminal history.
The black jogger was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2018 after a June incident in which his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, called 911 when he refused to hand over her car keys.
According to the filing from defense attorney Robert Rubin, Cooper-Jones told the dispatcher that Arbery would become violent if police were confrontational.
Walmsley also ruled the jury would not hear how Arbery was on probation for two crimes at the time of his death.
He had brought a handgun to school in 2013 and fled when confronted by police.
Six years later he was caught attempting to shoplift a television.
The defense argued that Arbery’s criminal record demonstrated how he ‘used running or jogging as a cover to commit crimes’ and that he had a pattern of fleeing or responding aggressively to confrontation.
Walmsley ruled it was inadmissible because the defendants were unaware of Arbery’s past at the time of the fatal shooting.
A trace of THC was found in Ahmaud Arbery’s blood
The jury in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial did not see the toxicology report revealing a small amount of THC, a psychoactive compound in marijuana, found in his blood.
Prosecutors from the Cobb County district attorney’s office said initial tests on Arbery’s body found no trace of drugs.
A second test found 3.2 nanograms per milliliter of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, in his blood, which they called a tiny amount.
The defense argued in favor of presenting the toxicology report to the jury, stating Arbery had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and that smoking marijuana can cause aggression in someone with this condition
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said at the time of the ruling that the toxicology reports were irrelevant to the case: ‘Why Mr. Arbery did anything he did is completely irrelevant. The question is about what the defendants did, and they knew nothing about what was in his system.’
The defense, however, argued that Arbery had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and that smoking marijuana can cause aggression in someone with this condition.
Travis McMichael ‘called Ahmaud Arbery a racial slur after he shot him’
The prosecution pushed Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley to allow evidence that gunman Travis McMichael called Ahmaud Arbery a racial slur after he shot him to be presented to the jury, however the request was denied.
A special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr said during a May 2020 interview that McMichael called Arbery as ‘f***ing n*****’ as the black jogger laid on the pavement, dying from the gunshot wounds.
Defense attorney Jason Sheffield has denied that his client, Travis McMichael, used the slur.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski has argued ‘racial animus’ behind the slaying throughout the trial and wanted to question McMichael about the comment.
It was not admissible in court as Bryan, who heard the alleged comment, never took the stand to testify.
Officer-worn body camera footage presented in court showed Gregory McMichael, 65, (left) consoling his son, Travis McMichael (right), after the 35-year-old shot Ahmaud Arbery
In the video recorded by Bryan, Arbery can be seen trying to wrestle a shotgun from Travis McMichael’s hands. In the video recorded by Bryan, Arbery can be seen trying to wrestle a shotgun from Travis McMichael’s hands.
Ahmaud Arbery was known as ‘The Jogger’ by members of his community for ‘in-and-out convenience store thefts’
Ahmaud Arbery, who was fatally shot in February 2020, was known by members of his community as ‘The Jogger,’ according to Georgia court documents filed last December.
Witnesses claim Arbery would run in and out of local convenience stores, with some alleging he committed crimes while doing so.
‘In 2019 and 2020, local convenience store witness interviews reveal Mr. Arbery became known as ‘The Jogger’ for his repeated conduct and behavior of running up, stretching in front, and then entering several convenience stores where he would grab items and run out before he got caught,’ an excerpt from the document read.
Cell phone video from another witness, captured in 2020, revealed that Arbery was confronted by store employees about his alleged thefts.
Ahmaud Arbery was known by members of his community as ‘The Jogger,’ according to Georgia court documents (excerpt above) filed last December
The prosecution also planned to show the jury Arbery’s Nike running shoes during medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue’s testimony (pictured), in effort to support their argument that he was a jogger who was unfairly targeted. However they ultimately changed course
‘Mr. Arbery, concerned about his thefts, chose to fight a man who worked on location at the adjacent truck stop who tried to confront him about it,’ the report stated.
Judge Timothy Walmsley ruled that Arbery’s past, including the alleged convenience store thefts, were not relevant to the case because the defendants were not aware of it at the time of the shooting.
The prosecution also planned to show the jury Arbery’s Nike running shoes during medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue’s testimony, in effort to support their argument that he was a jogger who was unfairly targeted.
However, the state ultimately changed course after the defense argued the presentation of Arbery’s shoes could lead to arguments about his activities the day of the shooting.
Men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery had a history of racists posts and messages
The court denied the prosecution’s request to present all social media posts and text messages to the jury that allegedly demonstrated the men in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial had a history of racism.
Prosecutors said they wanted to introduce into evidence against Travis McMichael a ‘racial highway video Facebook post,’ ‘a Racial Johnny Rebel Facebook post’ and a racial text message, all posted or sent in 2019.
They wanted to admit into evidence an ‘Identity Dixie Facebook post’ and ‘Racial Johnny Rebel Facebook post’ against Gregory McMichael.
The court denied the prosecution’s request to present all social media posts and text messages to the jury that allegedly demonstrated the men in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial had a history of racism
They also wanted to include alleged racist text messages, including at least one that used the n-word, from William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr.’s cellphone.’ During a bond hearing in July 2020, prosecutors said the texts contained ‘a ton of filth.’
The prosecution alleged the social media posts offered ‘proof of motive’.
Although some social media posts were presented in court, not all initially gathered during evidence collection were deemed admissible.
In previous coverage, DailyMail.com outlined some of the alleged racist comments initially presented to the court.
The key arguments the court heard in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial
These are the key arguments held in court before Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan were found guilty of his murder.
Disproportionately white jury
A jury of 11 white people and one black person was chosen in the murder trial of three white men who chased and fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery.
Jury selection in Glynn County Superior Court took three weeks in the case after summons were sent to 1,000 potential jurors.
Prosecutors from the Cobb County argued that defense lawyers were rejecting many potential jurors because of their race.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said he found that ‘intentional discrimination’ by defense attorneys appeared to have shaped jury selection, but argued Georgia law limited his authority to intervene.
Travis McMichael (left), Gregory McMichael (center) and William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr (right) are charged with the same nine counts in Ahmaud Arbery’s death
‘They have been able to explain to the court why besides race those individuals were struck from the panel,’ Walmsley said.
He also alleged that the defense had race-neutral arguments for dismissing those potential jurors.
Defense attorney Kevin Gough also raised concerns that there weren’t enough ‘Bubbas or Joe six-packs’ on the final panel of 12 jurors.
‘We want a diverse jury,’ he said. ‘But we’re missing a segment of what would normally be here.’
Gough argued the panel lacked white men over 40 without a four-year bachelor’s degree.
Slowing the process of jury selection, many potential jurors, drawn from the county, told the court that they had seen the viral video of Arbery’s death and made their minds up as to the guilt of the defendants.
Additionally, although only about 85,000 people live in Glynn County, many potential jurors had told the court they personally knew Arbery or know some or all of the defendants.
Defense moves for mistrial and openly opposes black pastors in the courtroom
Defense attorney Kevin Gough failed five times to get a mistrial declared in the Ahmaud Arbery trial.
Gough, who represented accused William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr., argued the rallies that took place outside the Brunswick courthouse where the trial was being held wrere ‘public lynching’ of the three defendants.
He repeatedly said his client’s right to a fair trial was being violated by a ‘left woke mob’ and the presence of black pastors and prominent civil rights leaders in the courtroom. He said their presence could influence the jury.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley denied the requests to declare a mistrial and said he found some of the lawyer’s comments while protesting the presence of the religious leaders to be ‘reprehensible.’
Rev. Jesse Jackson (left) sits with Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of Ahmaud Arbery, during the trial of the killers of Arbery at the Glynn County Courthouse on November 18
The rally of approximately 100 pastors was planned in response to defense attorney Kevin Gough’s first incendiary attempt to remove religious leaders from the courthouse when he said ‘we don’t any more black pastors here’
During the first week of testimony, Gough complained when Rev. Al Sharpton joined Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, and father, Marcus Arbery Sr., inside the Glynn County courtroom.
Gough also claimed Rev. Jesse Jackson comforting the black jogger’s weeping mother in court ‘tainted’ the jury.
‘We contend that the atmosphere for the trial, both inside and outside the courtroom, at this point, has deprived Mr Bryan of the right to a fair trial,’ he said during the second week of testimony.
‘We have had civil rights icons sitting in here – in what the civil rights community contends is a ‘test case for civil rights in the United States’ – eyeballing these jurors.’
A week after a defense attorney said he didn’t want to see ‘any more black pastors’ in the courtroom, hundreds of them turned out on the courthouse steps.
Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and the Rev. Jesse Jackson led a group of mostly black ministers Thursday in a rally outside the Glynn County courthouse as trial testimony continued inside.
‘No lawyer can knock us out. Because no matter where you are, God is there,’ Sharpton told the crowd outside the courthouse. ‘We are going to keep coming until we get justice.’
Gough’s fifth attempt came on Monday as armed black militia including members of the New Black Panther Party and BLM rallied outside the court room.
Jury is shown footage of Ahmaud Arbery’s slaying
The jury in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial was shown graphic photos and video of the black joggers last moments during the first day of testimony.
The court saw cellphone video of Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, pursuing Arbery that was filmed by defendant William ‘Roddie’ Bryan Jr.
The video, which was taken once Bryan joined the pursuit, showed Arbery being boxed in by the defendants’ pick-up trucks. It also depicted a physical altercation between Arbery and Travis.
Arbery is seen then seen reaching for a shotgun leveled at him by Travis before he is fatally shot three times, turns to run one last time, and falls prone on the street.
In the video recorded by Bryan, Arbery can be seen trying to wrestle a shotgun from Travis McMichael’s hands
After being shot three times by the younger McMichael, the video shows Arbery collapsing to the pavement. He died on the scene
The jury was also presented with crime scene pictures and bodycamera video from officers who responded to the scene.
Officer William Duggan took the stand and talked the jury through his bodycam video, which depicts the moment the officer found Arbery on the ground after being shot by Travis, who chased the black jogger with the help of his father Greg McMichael and neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan.
Duggan said when he approached Travis, the 35-year-old was covered in blood, saying, ‘I’m not okay.’
Meanwhile, the officer, who has had nearly 190 hours of medical training, determined that Arbery was already dead given ‘the blood loss, lack of rise and fall of the chest and the gaping would I saw in his chest.’
‘There was nothing I could do,’ he told EMS officials as they arrived at the scene shortly after.
According to the bodycam video, both McMichaels said they believed Arbery was the serial robber plaguing their neighborhood when they chased after him.
Police photographs presented in court Monday showed bloodstains on the asphalt (left) and Travis McMichael’s pump-action 12-gauge shotgun lying on grass near Arbery’s body (right)
In an interview at police headquarters soon after the shooting, Gregory McMichael told Roderic Nohilly, a county detective, that he ‘had never laid eyes’ on Arbery before he ran past the McMichaels’ driveway, according to a transcript.
The detective asked McMichael why he was chasing the man, who still had not been identified at that point: ‘Did this guy break into a house today?’
‘Well that’s just it, I don’t know,’ McMichael replied, according to the transcript.
The defense argued the three men were trying to make a citizen’s arrest under a state law that was subsequently repealed.
‘He was trapped like a rat,’ McMichael told the detective. ‘I think he was wanting to flee and he realized that you know he was not going to get away.’
Police body camera video also revealed that Gregory McMichael consoled his son after the shooting of unarmed Arbery.
‘You had no choice,’ ex-cop Gregory McMichael told his son. The video showed McMichael place his hands on his son’s shoulder while Arbery, 25, – who had been shot three times – laid on the pavement, bleeding.
‘You had no choice,’ ex-cop Gregory McMichael (left) told Travis McMichael (right), as he placed his hands on his son’s shoulders
On Tuesday, the jury was presented with several photos police took of Travis McMichael after the shooting (pictured)
The jury was shown a pictured of Travis McMichael covered in Ahmaud Arbery’s blood
Additional body camera footage suggested that the elder McMichael wanted to shoot Arbery.
‘To be perfectly honest with you, if I could have gotten a shot at the guy, I’d have shot him myself,’ McMichael told Officer Jeff Brandeberry, according to a transcript of the cop’s body-camera footage that was read aloud.
McMichael added: ‘This ain’t no shuffler. This guy’s an a**hole.’
Glenn County Police Detective Parker Marcy who testified during the trial, alleged that hours after the incident, McMichael admitted he was carrying a pistol and prepared to shoot Arbery.
‘I said, ‘Stop, you know, I’ll blow your f*****g head off or something,” McMichael said, according to a transcript of the conversation of his conversation with Marcy.
‘I was trying to convey to this guy we were not playing.’
During the hearing, the jury was also presented with several photos police took of
Travis McMichael in the moments after he shot Arbery.
The pictures show the younger McMichael with the jogger’s blood on his hands and arms as well as spattering his shirt, face and neck.
Gregory McMichael also had Arbery’s blood on his right hand, police have testified. The defendant told authorities he got the blood on himself because he moved Arbery’s arm – as he lay prone on the ground – to check him for a weapon.
‘I didn’t know if he (Arbery) had a weapon or not. I don’t take any chances,’ McMichael told the officer, explaining why he touched the body, an officer who testified recalled.
Travis McMichael felt he was in a ‘life or death’ situation when he shot Ahmaud Arbery
Travis McMichael testified on day nine of his murder trial that he shot Ahmaud Arbery because he thought the black man was attacking him after McMichael and his two co-defendants chased Arbery through a mostly white Georgia neighborhood.
In over three hours on the stand, McMichael, who is white, sought to convince jurors he had good reason to grab his shotgun and jump into his pickup truck with his father to chase Arbery last year, saying they thought Arbery might be a burglar.
Travis McMichael testified on day nine of his murder trial that he shot Ahmaud Arbery because he thought the black man was attacking him after McMichael and his two co-defendants chased Arbery through a mostly white Georgia neighborhood
He frequently used police jargon and invoked law-enforcement training he got when he was a U.S. Coast Guard mechanic. Holding back tears, he said 25-year-old Arbery had frightened him.
‘You pull a weapon on someone, from what I’ve learned in my training, usually that tells people to back off,’ he said, explaining why he aimed his pump-action 12-gauge shotgun at Arbery.
Arbery, however, ran toward McMichael at the end of a chase lasting about five minutes on Feb. 23, 2020, through Satilla Shores, a cluster of homes outside the small coastal city of Brunswick.
‘I shot him. He had my gun,’ McMichael said, his voice trembling as he described a split-second when they grappled over the weapon. ‘It was a life or death situation.’
McMichael fired at Arbery three times, tearing two deadly gaping wounds in his chest.
Travis McMichael then started to tear up as he said: ‘I was thinking of my son, it sounds weird but it’s the first thing…’ His voice tailed off as he fought back sobs.
Asked by his attorney Jason Sheffield what he did next, McMichael said: ‘I shot. He had my gun. He struck me. It was obvious that he was attacking me, that he would have got the shotgun from me, it’s a life or death situation.
‘I wanted to stop him from doing this so I shot.’
Asked if Arbery stopped when he was shot, McMichael replied: ‘He did not.’
Gunman Travis McMichael thought Ahmaud Arbery was a burglar
The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery testified during his murder trial that the 25-year-old that he believed the black jogger was a burglar lurking around their neighborhood, which the defense alleged was experiencing a crime surge.
Travis McMichael told jurors on day 9 of the trial that his decision to grab a gun and chase Arbery was driven by an encounter 12 days before, when he saw Arbery ‘creeping in the shadows’ at night around a house under construction nearby.
Police had told the McMichael men that nothing was taken on that day. But they nonetheless suspected Arbery had committed theft on a different occasion and that he may have been armed on the night of Feb. 11 because of the way he seemed to reach for his waistband or pocket.
The property’s owner has said through his lawyer that Arbery probably stopped to drink from a water faucet. Arbery had nothing on him besides his running clothes and shoes on the day he was shot.
Defense lawyers have said the men were legally trying to stop Arbery under a now-repealed Georgia citizen’s arrest law.
Travis McMichael told jurors on day 9 of the trial that his decision to grab a gun and chase Arbery was driven by an encounter 12 days before, when he saw Arbery ‘creeping in the shadows’ at night around a house under construction nearby
McMichael, however, repeatedly said he chased Arbery only to ask him questions and that he wrongly believed his father had called 911.
‘I ask him: ‘Hey, what are you doing? What’s going on?” McMichael testified, saying he pulled alongside Arbery running in the road. Arbery never spoke a word in reply and looked angry with clenched teeth, McMichael said.
‘He was mad, which made me think something’s happened,’ McMichael said.
The defense was able to use the repealed law in their defense because, as one lawyer said, it was ‘the law of the land’ at the time of the February 2020 shooting.
It was legal in Georgia for people to arrest someone where they had ‘reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion’ that the person had just committed a felony.
Lawmakers now limit citizen detainment to specific circumstances, such as shopkeepers who see a theft or restaurant workers seeing a ‘dine-and-dash.’
Police bodycam footage shows Gregory and gun-toting Travis McMichael hunting for Ahmaud Arbery at a partly-constructed house 12 days before he was shot and killed
Dramatic police bodycam footage of Gregory and an armed Travis McMichael hunting for Ahmaud Arbery 12 days before the black jogger was killed was played to the jury in the sixth day of their murder trial.
The night time video shows both men at the partly-constructed house of neighbor Larry English on February 11, 2020 after Travis, 35, had made a breathless six-minute 911 call saying he had confronted a black male at the home.
The jury was shown a 24-minute clip as Glynn County police officer Robert Rash, who had responded to the call in the predominantly white Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia, took the witness stand.
At one point in the video Gregory, 65, tells the cop, ‘Travis just walked down there’, referring to the back of the property. ‘He’s armed by the way,’ he adds.
Police bodycam footage played in court shows Gregory and Travis McMichael searching for Ahmaud Arbery around a partly-constructed home in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia on February 11, 2020
The jury heard Travis (pictured) had chased Arbery – although his identity was not known at the time – after seeing him at the property
The McMichaels hunted Arbery in their truck 12 days before he was shot
He then went back to get his phone and pistol before returning to the house with his father, the court was told.
The pair and neighbor Diego Perez were at the home when Officer Rash arrived to investigate and two other neighbors later followed.
Rash, with his gun drawn, can be seen on the video going into the house to start searching after back-up officers had arrived.
Arbery was not found at the house, with the searchers speculating he had vanished out the back.
Rash told the court he had previously spoken to both McMichaels about a black male being seen at the property on October 25, 2019 and showed them a screenshot of video of Arbery there.
This was part of his quest to identify and speak to Arbery over possible trespass.
Security footage of Ahmaud Arbery visiting a semi-constructed house FIVE times in the months before he was shot dead
Grainy video footage of Ahmaud Arbery roaming around a partly-constructed house at night five months before he was shot dead was played in front of the jury as the trial over his death entered its fifth day.
It is the same home the 25-year-old was later spotted wandering into that sparked the deadly chase by ex-cop Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael.
Jurors were shown the footage as they watched a four-hour recorded deposition by construction boss Larry English, 51, who was building a ‘dream second home’ two houses away from the McMichaels.
Grainy video footage of Ahmaud Arbery roaming around a partly-constructed home on five occasions in the months before he was shot dead last year was played in front of the jury on the fifth day of the trial
A 45-second clip from October 25 (pictured) showed him wandering around near the back of the house at night. Larry English, who was constructing his ‘dream second home’, called 911 to report a ‘trespasser’ who he suspected was ‘maybe drunk or on drugs’
The property owner said he had installed eight security cameras at the site in 2019 after reports of people entering. They were tripped remotely by motion sensors with images relayed to English’s cell phone.
Arbery was captured on camera visiting the partly-constructed detached waterfront house on five occasions in the months leading to his death.
He was first seen at the property on October 25, 2019 before visiting again on November 18, December 17, and on February 11, 2020.
He was spotted at the home a final time during the day almost two weeks later on February 23 when he was chased and killed.
Jury is shown gruesome photos of Ahmaud Arbery’s body
Dr. Edmund Donoghue, the state medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Arbery’s body, testified the jogger was hit by two of the three shotgun rounds fired at him.
He said both gunshots caused such severe bleeding that either blast alone would have killed 25-year-old Arbery.
The first shot at close range tore through an artery in Arbery’s right wrist and punched a big hole in the center of his chest, breaking several ribs and causing heavy internal bleeding, Donoghue said. The second shot missed entirely. The third shot fired at point-blank range ripped through a major artery and vein near his left armpit and fractured bones in his shoulder and upper arm.
According to Dr. Edmund Donoghue’s testimony, the shot that struck Arbery’s left chest and armpit (pictured) alone was lethal enough to kill the jogger
An x-ray image presented to the jury Tuesday showed Arbery’s injuries
The jury was shown images of Arbery’s clothing, torn apart by bullet holes
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski shows a photo shotgun pellets removed from the body of Ahmaud Arbery during medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue’s testimony
‘Is there anything law enforcement or EMS could have done to save his life at the scene?’ prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked.
‘I don’t think so. No,’ Donoghue replied.
Donoghue performed an autopsy on Feb. 24, 2020, the day after Arbery was slain. The jury saw close-up photos of his injuries, which included several large abrasions to Arbery’s face from when he fell facedown in the street following the third gunshot. Photos of his clothing showed his T-shirt turned red with blood. Cellphone video of the shooting shows it had been white.
Asked by the prosecutor how Arbery was able to fight back after sustaining such a severe chest wound from the first gunshot, the medical examiner called it a ‘fight or flight reaction’ that raised his heart rate and blood pressure while sending adrenaline coursing through his body.