Jurors heard closing arguments today in the case of three white men charged with murdering Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, in 2020
Travis McMichael, who has testified to firing his gun at Arbery, along with his father, Greg McMichael, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan have pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, malice murder, and felony murder. During the trial, the prosecution described the defendants as dangerous vigilantes who attacked the unarmed man, chasing him for five minutes in their pickups before confronting him with firearms.
In her initial closing arguments, lead prosecutor for the State Linda Dunikoski said the three defendants had no cause to pursue Arbery or attempt a citizen’s arrest on Feb. 23, 2020, because they simply assumed, without knowing, that he had committed a crime that day. She said Arbery’s behavior — namely running away from the men in trucks, and never pulling out a weapon — did not constitute the “imminent use of unlawful force” that would be required for a self-defense claim.
She said people are not allowed to force others to comply with their demands by pointing guns at them and that the three men had “attacked” Arbery “because he was a Black man running down the street.” The emphasis on Arbery’s race was notable compared to the rest of the trial, during which the prosecution did not explicitly allege racial bias in the killing, although issues of race were not absent from the proceedings.
“A good neighborhood is always policing itself,” said Laura Hogue, the lawyer for Greg McMichael. She described Arbery as a “recurring nighttime intruder” and argued that it was Arbery’s choice to “fight,” and to run toward a man wielding a shotgun that left Travis McMichael no alternative but to attempt a citizen’s arrest, which would end up killing Arbery.
A lawyer for Bryan aimed to distance Bryan from his fellow defendants. Bryan is accused of pursuing and helping to box in Arbery with his truck and has said he
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