BRUNSWICK, GA. – Attorneys are expected to make arguments that wrap up Monday in the trial of the murder of three white men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, whose deaths became part of the trial. of broader consideration of racial injustice in the criminal justice system.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are expected to spend hours bringing their final cases before a disproportionate white jury. Jurors heard a 10-day trial of testimony that ended last week, not long after the man who shot Arbery said he pulled the trigger in self-defense.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael took up arms and chased Arbery in a pickup truck after spotting a 25-year-old Black man running in their neighborhood on February 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and recorded video of Travis McMichael opening fire as Arbery threw punches and grabbed his shotgun.
No one was charged in the murder until Bryan’s video was leaked online two months later and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. All three men face murder and other charges.
Defense attorneys said the men suspected Arbery of burglarizing a home under construction and intended to hold him until police arrived. Prosecutors say there is no evidence Arbery committed any crimes in the vicinity. They say the men chased Arbery for five minutes and used their truck to stop him from fleeing before McMichael shot him.
Arbery was enrolled in a technical college and was preparing to become an electrician like his uncles when he was killed. McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery as a thief because security cameras had captured him multiple times inside their unfinished house across the street.
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