The trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery will continue on Tuesday with testimony from the medical examiner
The post-mortem examination, performed by medical examiner Edmund Donoghue of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, provided more details about the shooting, which was captured on video shot by Bryan. Arbery and Travis McMichael can be seen in the video grappling with guns before opening fire.
Donoghue wrote in the autopsy report “Arbery died of multiple shotgun wounds during the handgun fight.”
According to reports, the shotgun blast also damaged his right lung, fractured his left arm and shoulder blade.
In addition to malicious murder and felony, the defendants also face aggravating charges of assault, false imprisonment and willful felony. All pleaded not guilty. If convicted, each man could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The judge expressed displeasure at the defense lawyer’s objections
“How many pastors does that Arbery family have? We had Father Al Sharpton here early last week … I don’t know who Mr. Jackson, Father Jackson, is pastoring here,” Gough said.
“I guess the next question is which pastor is next? Will Raphael Warnock be next to show up this afternoon? We don’t know,” Gough said. “In your honor, I give all respect to Reverend Jesse Jackson that it was no different for him to bring uniformed police officers or prison guards into a small town where a young leather Black has been charged with assaulting a law enforcement or corrections officer.”
Warnock is a United States Senator for Georgia and a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the former church of Father Martin Luther King Jr.
The judge said the court’s position – which did not make any general rules about attendance as long as everyone was respectful during the trial – had not changed. “It’s almost as if you’re trying to continue this for purposes other than just getting the attention of the court,” he said.
Gough later requested a trial, saying his client was deprived of his right to a fair trial. Two additional defense teams were involved in the erroneous motion, which the judge denied.
In ruling on the motion, Walmsley called some of Gough’s earlier remarks “reprehensible” and stressed to all attorneys that their words were having an impact. He told them they needed to understand “that your words in this courtroom have an impact on a lot of what’s going on.”
Testimony reveals more details of the shooting
Several investigators from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation provided information and analysis in Monday’s testimony.
Anne Kisler-Rao, GBI crime lab employee, testified that she analyzed fibers taken from Arbery’s shirt and lifting tape from a truck.
Kisler-Rao said the fibers from the truck were “identical” with those from Arbery’s shirt, but she couldn’t say definitively whether they came from the T-shirt Arbery was wearing. are not.
Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, closed her eyes while playing back the video on Bryan’s cell phone, according to a reporter swimming in the room. The judges were glued to the video as each one was played.
Brian Leppard, a weapons and toolmark expert for the GBI, testified that he conducted a muzzle-to-target inspection at the request of the state prosecutor’s office. The test helps determine the approximate distance between the tip of the gun and the shirt Arbery is wearing. According to Leppard, an examination of his outfit revealed lacerations, lacerations, and rolling around holes in his shirt were consistent with contact or close-contact shooting from the weapon.
CNN’s Jason Hanna, Amir Vera, Joe Sutton, Jason Morris, Pamela Kirkland, Artemis Moshtaghian and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.