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Arguments begin in trial of white men charged with murder of Black jogger

A nearly all-white jury heard opening statements Friday in the murder trial of three white men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was jogging in their neighborhood in February 2020.

Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired police officer, his son Travis, 35, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, are facing murder and other charges for the February 2020 shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.

The three defendants contend they mistook Arbery for a burglar in their Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores and invoked a since-repealed state law that allows ordinary citizens to make arrests.

The McMichaels, who were armed with a shotgun and a handgun, and Bryan chased Arbery in their pickup trucks through their neighborhood based on “assumptions and driveway decisions,” Dunikoski said.

The prosecutor said the three men had no reason on the day of the shooting to suspect that Arbery, an avid jogger, had committed any crime as he ran past their homes.

The defendants “didn’t simply follow Mr. Arbery in their truck,” she said.

At one point, Gregory McMichael shouted “Stop or I’ll blow your fucking head off” at the fleeing Arbery, the prosecutor said.

Arbery was chased by the men in their trucks for five minutes until he was “trapped like a rat,” Dunikoski said, using a description that Gregory McMichael gave police.

The jury was shown video of Gregory and Travis McMichael following Arbery in a pickup truck and Bryan chasing them in his own vehicle and filming the scene on his cell phone.

Travis McMichael, who had gotten out of the vehicle, opens fire with a 12-gauge shotgun. A wounded Arbery is seen struggling with McMichael before being killed by another blast.

“They’re going to try to detain him for the police,” Rubin said. “This is what the law allows. A private person may arrest an offender.”

As Arbery rounded the front of the vehicle he “is on Travis such that Travis has no choice but to fire his weapon in self-defense,” the defense attorney said. “It’s his life or Ahmaud Arbery’s life.

During more than two weeks of jury selection, defense attorneys for the three white defendants eliminated 11 of 12 prospective Black jurors, prompting accusations of racial discrimination.

About 25 percent of the 85,000 residents of Glynn County, where the trial is taking place, are Black.

It was only after the video of the shooting was leaked online that the case was transferred to state police and charges were filed.

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