Tag Archives: Ahmaud

US

A jury has been selected in the trial for the men accused of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s death. Only 1 juror is Black

Leave a comment

The jury, consisting of 11 White members and one Black member, was selected Wednesday evening after a two-and-a-half-week selection process that ended with prosecutors for the state accusing defense attorneys of disproportionately striking qualified Black jurors and basing some of their strikes on race.

The court heard arguments for more than two hours on the merits of why defense struck the potential jurors before Judge Timothy Walmsley ultimately denied the state’s motion and ruled there were valid reasons, beyond race, for why the jurors were dismissed.

Of the 16 total jurors selected — including the four alternates — there are five men and 11 women, according to the pool reporter inside the courtroom.

Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, said as she left the courthouse Wednesday she was “shocked” there was only one Black juror.

“I mean, that was devastating,” she said.

The jurors must decide whether Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, along with their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., are guilty of malice and felony murder. They have pleaded not guilty. The defendants also face charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery’s family, wrote on Twitter about the number of Black potential jurors who remained, saying in a post, “Only one of the 16 potential jurors is African-American.”

Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, called the selection process “exhaustive” but said he was pleased with the outcome and felt the selected jurors would be fair.

“We are very pleased that we have been able to select now 16 members of this community,” Sheffield said as he exited the courthouse. “Where this community can now decide the pending issues of this indictment, and we truly believe that they will do so fairly and in keeping with what we all understand justice to be about.”

The selection process was a long one

Arbery’s killing sparked national outrage after a video of his shooting was made public. The 25-year-old Black man was out for a jog in Brunswick on February 23, 2020, when he was fatally shot.
The McMichaels said they were conducting a citizen’s arrest on Arbery, whom they suspected of burglary, and that Travis McMichael shot him with a shotgun in self-defense. Bryan, who recorded the video, hit Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery, a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent has testified.

It wasn’t until video of the shooting surfaced that the men were arrested.

Finding people to sit on the panel that will deliver the verdicts was a challenging and lengthy process that the judge himself seemed to grow frustrated with last month.
From the roughly 1,000 people who were summoned as part of the jury selection pool, fewer than half turned up.
No official reason was given for the low turnout, but among those who did come, many said they had already formed strong opinions about the case, knew the defendants or were scared to sit, pointing to the potential consequences the outcomes of the case could have on the Glynn County community.

“I think it would be naive to think there couldn’t be real-world repercussions,” one woman told attorneys last month in the early days of the selection process.

The jury will be impaneled just before opening statements. The judge told jurors to report Friday morning at 9 a.m.

Not enough ‘Bubba’ men, defense attorney said

Defense attorneys previously expressed concern over not only how many people didn’t show, but also who was missing among those who did.

“It would appear that White males born in the South, over 40 years of age, without four-year college degrees, sometimes euphemistically known as ‘Bubba’ or ‘Joe Six Pack,’ seem to be significantly underrepresented,” defense attorney Kevin Gough, who represents Bryan, told the court Friday.

“Without meaning to be stereotypical in any way, I do think there is a real question in this case whether that demographic is underrepresented in this jury pool,” Gough added. “And if it is, then we have a problem with that.”

Sheffield, the attorney for Travis McMichael, brought up demographics again this week, stressing that the low turnout of people during the jury selection process meant the pool didn’t “fairly reflect the accused in this case, where the accused can’t look across the courtroom and see persons that are similarly situated to themselves.”

But a jury needs to be representative of only race and gender, not socioeconomic background, said CNN legal analyst Page Pate. There usually tends to be diversity of economic backgrounds among those who are summoned, Pate said.

“Participation in the jury pool is important, but only so much to establish diversity of race and perhaps gender, but not ‘Bubba’ background, whatever that may be,” Pate said. “I’ve represented doctors who have gone on trial. Now, was my jury made up of a bunch of doctors? Of course not.”

Glynn County, home to more than 85,000 people, is roughly 70% White and 27% Black, according to 2019 data from the US Census Bureau.

“Even if there were no ‘Bubbas,’ as long as the lawyers are not removing people solely because of race, there’s really no problem,” Pate said. “You have no legal right to a ‘Bubba’-rich jury pool.”

Read original article here

US

It’s proving difficult to find a jury in the trial for Ahmaud Arbery’s killing. Potential jurors either know the case well, know the defendants or are scared

Leave a comment

Hundreds of people have been summoned, and from the 60 people who have been questioned since Monday, many said they have already formed strong opinions about the case, know the defendants or are scared to sit. They point to potential consequences specific verdicts may have on the community.

One prospective juror said that while she doesn’t know much about the case itself, she has seen Facebook headlines and “I run with Ahmaud” bumper stickers across town. She expressed concern about how polarizing the case has been among the community.

“I think it would be naive to think there couldn’t be real world repercussions,” the woman said, adding she wouldn’t let fear stop her from trying to weigh the case fairly.

Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was out for a jog in Brunswick, Georgia, was shot and killed on February 23, 2020. The McMichaels said they were conducting a citizen’s arrest on Arbery, who they suspected of burglary, and that Travis McMichael shot him with a shotgun in self-defense.
Bryan, who recorded the video, allegedly hit Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery. After the shooting, the three men were allowed to leave the scene and weren’t arrested until the video of the incident was made public more than two months later, sparking outrage and nationwide demonstrations against racial injustice.

“Nobody deserves to be gunned down depending on the situation,” one prospective juror said during questioning, adding he has watched the video in the case and is nervous. “My opinion is Ahmaud was murdered.”

Asked whether he would consider evidence presented in court, the man said he would if it was “legitimate evidence” and added he would try his best to be fair and impartial.

“But, I mean, based on the video, Ahmaud was unarmed and the other two were not. It’s kind of hard to show it’s self-defense there,” he told prosecutors.

A process longer than usual

Thursday’s roughly 12-hour day concluded the first week of jury selection after attorneys completed three 20-person panels. So far, 23 prospective jurors have been accepted by both the state and defense attorneys for continued consideration.

Twelve jury members and four alternates will be selected for the trial.

“It could get into next week,” Judge Timothy Walmsley, who earlier in the week appeared to grow frustrated at the slow pace of the review, told qualified potential jurors on Thursday. “Possibly into the week after.”

Compared to cases that have not received similar media attention, the time it’s taking to select jurors is “extremely long,” said CNN legal analyst Page Pate.

“For a case that’s this high profile, I would say it’s on the longer side,” Pate said. “The surprise being that … they could only find 23 (people) who were impartial enough just to make it to step number two. That’s unusual. That’s extremely unusual.”

Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, told CNN the defense has not asked for a change of venue because they believe they will be able to find fair and impartial jurors, “despite the global coverage of this case.”

“To ask for a change of venue, we have to find enough evidence that our jury pool is so tainted that we cannot find a fair and impartial jury,” he told CNN Friday. “The way we get there is by questioning each and every individual juror, listening to their thoughts and opinions about the case, what they think they know and what they would be willing to consider and whether they would be able to keep an open mind.”

So far, Sheffield said defense attorneys have been “pleased with the number of jurors that can do this.”

“We will continue to monitor the situation and we will make our daily assessments of whether or not it will be proper to move to change the venue,” Sheffield said.

CNN has reached out to prosecutors for comment.

Pate, CNN’s legal analyst, said he’s not surprised so many of the potential jurors had heard about the case — not only because of the media coverage but because of how small the community is.

“What does surprise me is the number of people who already have a fixed opinion that they’re all [the defendants] guilty,” Pate said.

Many knew Arbery or the defendants

In the small community rattled by the shooting, many who are now being questioned as potential jurors in the trial say they know at least one person in the case.

Kevin Gough, an attorney for Bryan, called the Brunswick community — Satilla Shores, where the shooting took place, is a suburb of that city — a “fishbowl” where everyone knows each other.

One prospective juror said Bryan looked familiar. Another said he knew a neighbor of the McMichaels who was among the first people to arrive on the scene after the shooting. Another person said a family member was among the first responders who was dispatched to the shooting.

One man, who said he met Travis McMichael at a hunting club and has known Bryan for roughly two decades, said that even though he’s not a close friend of either of the two men, knowing them made it difficult for him to serve as an impartial juror.

“Just knowing somebody, yes, it would,” the man said.

Others are familiar with Arbery’s family, with Sheffield noting on the third day of jury selection that a potential juror appeared to give a thumbs up and a nod to the Arbery family on their way out of the courtroom.

At least two dozen potential jurors also indicated to attorneys they had negative feelings against the three men charged in the case.

One woman, when asked why she indicated she has negative feelings against Greg McMichael, replied, “I don’t really know the person, but I have to admit, someone taking someone else’s life to me is a serious offense.”

Others are scared to sit

Other jurors who have gone through the selection process expressed concerns about possible repercussions if they were chosen to serve on the panel set to deliver the verdict in the case.

One potential juror who was questioned said he believed it would be “difficult to change my mind” about whether the three men were guilty [of Arbery’s death]. He fears there will only be one verdict that’s accepted in today’s climate, and if that verdict is not returned, some may threaten violence “again.”

“The jury is in a tough spot once they’re convened,” the man said.

Fear of violent protests and outside agitators has been a recurring theme for Glynn County residents ever since the video of Arbery’s shooting surfaced. While the community has seen many protests since then, they have all remained peaceful.

While others did not specifically mention concerns over impacts to the community, they said they did not want to serve on the jury, with several telling attorneys they were nervous and some getting emotional during questioning.

One potential juror said, “I don’t feel comfortable. I don’t like crowds and people and pressure.”

Read original article here

US

Ahmaud Arbery: Murder trial for the killing of 25-year-old Black man set to begin with jury selection in Georgia

Leave a comment

Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are charged with malice and felony murder and have pleaded not guilty. They also face charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Jury selection in their state trial begins Monday.

Arbery was fatally shot February 23, 2020, while out jogging in Brunswick, Georgia, in an incident partly captured on video. The McMichaels said they were conducting a citizen’s arrest on Arbery, who they suspected of burglary, and that Travis McMichael shot him with a shotgun in self-defense. Bryan, who recorded the video, allegedly hit Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery.

After the shooting, the three men were allowed to leave the scene and weren’t arrested until after video of the incident was made public in early May.

The video and the delay in making the arrests, along with the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor last year, helped spark nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that challenged how the legal system treats Black people.
The McMichaels and Bryan have also been indicted on federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges. They have pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
With its focus on video evidence, the case bears some resemblance to the murder trial of ex-Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted of murder in Floyd’s death. In addition, the issues of vigilantism and self-defense offer similarities to the trial of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who was acquitted in 2013 of killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

How we got here

Arbery was shot dead in a confrontation with Travis and Gregory McMichael in the neighborhood of Satilla Shores, outside the city of Brunswick in Georgia’s lowcountry.

Arbery was on a jog — something he was known to do, according to those who knew him — when the McMichaels grabbed their guns and pursued Arbery. Gregory McMichael, a former police officer and investigator in the local District Attorney’s Office, later told police Arbery and his son had struggled over his son’s shotgun, and that Travis McMichael shot Arbery after the latter attacked him, according to the initial police report.

Bryan had also joined the pursuit and recorded the shooting on his cellphone.

Gregory McMichael told police he and his son had pursued Arbery because they suspected he was responsible for a string of recent purported burglaries in the neighborhood. A Glynn County Police spokesperson later said there had only been one burglary — a gun stolen from an unlocked vehicle in front of the McMichaels’ home — reported in more than seven weeks prior to the shooting.

Additionally, McMichael said he saw Arbery inside a home under construction. Arbery was seen entering the home in surveillance video at the site, but the owner of the home told CNN he did not see Arbery commit any crime other than “trespassing” the day of the shooting.

For months, the case lay dormant, and two prosecutors recused themselves from the case due to conflicts of interest.

But in May, video taken by Bryan of the fatal interaction was made public, and the McMichaels were arrested days later. The three were all jointly indicted by a grand jury in June 2020.

At a preliminary hearing last June, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial testified that Bryan told investigators he heard Travis McMichael use a racial epithet after shooting Arbery. McMichael had also used racial slurs numerous times on social media and on messaging services, Dial said.

Attorneys for the three defendants have said they acted in self-defense. But Dial testified the opposite was true.

“I believe Mr. Arbery was being pursued, and he ran till he couldn’t run anymore, and it was turn his back to a man with a shotgun or fight with his bare hands against the man with the shotgun. He chose to fight,” he said. “I believe Mr. Arbery’s decision was to just try to get away, and when he felt like he could not escape he chose to fight.”

The district attorney at the time, Jackie Johnson, was voted out of office amid the backlash. In September, she was indicted on charges of violating her oath as a public officer and obstructing a police officer for allegedly interfering with the arrest of Travis McMichael. Johnson has denied wrongdoing.

CNN’s Eliott McLaughlin and Amir Vera contributed to this report.

Read original article here