Ahmaud Arbery killing trial: Homeowner who called 911 about people at site in months before Arbery’s killing testified he did not ask the McMichaels to help secure his property

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Larry English Jr. testified in the September 24 deposition that surveillance footage at his property near Brunswick, Georgia, captured people on the property several times in late 2019 and early 2020, and in some instances he called 911 about the intrusions.

English previously told the court that a serious medical condition prevented him from testifying in person.

English said he had installed cameras around the home that he was able to monitor using an app on his phone. In late October 2019, English made a call to authorities to report an individual on his property, whom he described as “a colored guy, got real curly looking hair,” with tattoos, who was just “pondering around,” and asked for a deputy to go to the property.

He called authorities again when he saw a white couple entering his property on November 17, 2019, telling the dispatcher that “We had … some stuff stolen about a week and a half, two weeks ago there.” English called back a day later, telling authorities that he saw at the construction site the “same guy that was over there about a week and a half, two weeks ago.”

English was asked whether anything was ever taken from his construction site, to which he responded, “Not that I know of.”

Three White men — Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. — are accused of chasing Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in vehicles and killing him in that neighborhood on February 23, 2020.

The defendants are charged with malice and felony murder in connection with the killing. They also face charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. All have pleaded not guilty.

If convicted, each man could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Arbery’s family has said he was out for a jog when he was shot and killed. Cell phone video of the episode surfaced more than two months later, sparking widespread public outrage and demonstrations just weeks before the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis set off a summer of nationwide protests against racial injustice.
Bryan, who recorded the cell phone video, is accused of hitting Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery. According to a transcript read in court Thursday, Bryan told an investigator he “angled” Arbery off the side of a road because he believed Arbery was trying to reach for his truck door, but did not think he hit Arbery.
Video of a September deposition of Larry English (right) was played in court on Thursday.

Owner: I told neighbor he could check my property, but not the McMichaels

Defense attorneys contend their clients were trying to conduct a lawful citizen’s arrest of Arbery, whom they suspected of burglary after they and several neighbors became concerned about people entering English’s under-construction home. The defense contends Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense as Arbery and Travis McMichael wrestled over Travis’ shotgun.
The confrontation came minutes after a neighbor called police to say Arbery was at English’s property that afternoon. Gregory McMichael, investigators testified, said he initiated the pursuit after seeing Arbery speedily run by McMichael’s home, and that he believed Arbery matched the description of someone who’d been recorded at the construction site before.
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However, prosecution witnesses have testified that McMichael did not know at the time that Arbery was at the site that day, or whether a man in English’s surveillance videos had ever stolen anything. The prosecution has said surveillance videos do show Arbery at the site multiple times, but always without breaking in and without incident.

In his deposition, English testified that other than police, he only ever gave one person permission to check his property — a man who lives near the site, but is not one of the defendants.

That man had offered to do so, English said, after texting to him that he’d heard about intrusions at the property.

“At any point in time, did you ever authorize the McMichaels to … confront anybody on your site?” prosecutor Paul Camarillo said during the deposition.

“No,” English replied.

Camarillo also asked whether English had given the McMichaels permission to go onto the property, or whether he had told them they couldn’t go on the property. English answered no to both.

He added that he never posted surveillance videos of his site to social media but said he may have shown them to neighborhood resident Matt Albenze.

Albenze testified this week that he called police on the day of Arbery’s killing to say that a man — later identified as Arbery — was at English’s property.

English said he had met Travis McMichael once, and that he had spoken to Gregory McMichael and his wife at least once before the shooting.

Camarillo asked English whether he had told the McMichaels about any incidents at his house.

“Probably. But I’m not sure,” English answered.

Devon M. Sayers reported from Brunswick and Jason Hanna and Alta Spells wrote from Atlanta. CNN’s Pamela Kirkland contributed to this report.

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