The murder trial of three white Georgia men charged in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man prosecutors allege was "hunted down" and shot to death while out for a Sunday jog, has begun.
The evidence portion of the high-profile case kicked off just after 9 a.m. Friday in Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick, Georgia.
"I do feel like we're getting closer to justice for Ahmaud day by day," Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said in an interview scheduled to be broadcast Friday night on ABC's "Nightline."
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was allegedly killed by a father and son while jogging on Feb. 23, 2020.
Courtesy Arbery family
The trial started under a cloud of controversy after a jury comprised of 11 white people and one Black person was selected on Wednesday, prompting an objection from prosecutors that the selection process, which took nearly three weeks, ended up racially biased.
On Thursday afternoon, one of the seated jurors, a white woman in her 40s or 50s, was dismissed from the panel for undisclosed medical issues. One of the alternate jurors, a white person, replaced her, bringing the number of alternates to three. All of the alternates are white.
Greg McMichael, center, listens to his attorney during a motion hearing at the Glynn County Courthouse, Nov. 4, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. McMichael and his his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, are charged with the February 2021 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
Stephen B. Morton/Pool via AP
Travis McMichael attends the jury selection in his trial, together with Gregory McMichael and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, charged with the February 2020 death of Ahmaud Arbery, at the Gwynn County Superior Court, in Brunswick, Georgia, Oct. 27, 2021.
Octavio Jones/Reuters
William "Roddie" Bryan, right, listens to proceedings during a motion hearing at the Glynn County Courthouse, Nov. 4, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. Bryan, Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, are charged with the February 2021 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
Stephen B. Morton/Pool via AP
The three defendants are Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired police officer; his son, Travis McMichael, 35; and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 52.
The men have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
The McMichaels and Bryan were also indicted on federal hate crime charges in April and have all pleaded not guilty.
Arbery was out jogging on Feb. 23, 2020, through the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick when he was killed.
Prosecutors on Friday afternoon launched into their case, calling their first witness, Officer William Duggan of the Glynn County Police Department.
Duggan testified that he had just finished an off-duty side job at a church on Feb. 23, 2020, when he heard a radio call of shots fired and a person down in the Satilla Shores neighborhood.
He said he was in full uniform and responded to the call to back up the one patrol officer who was at the crime scene.
"I did see a Black male lying on the ground in the middle of the road on the pavement," Duggan said of what he observed when he arrived at the scene.
He said he also saw Travis McMichael sitting nearby covered in blood.
"I remember at some point asking, 'Are you OK?'" he said of his response to Travis McMichael.
He said McMichael told him he was not OK because he had just shot a man.
Under questioning from Dunikoski, Duggan said his body camera was activated at that time.
Just prior to Duggan taking the witness stand, Walmsley cautioned everyone in the courtroom that the prosecution planned to play Duggan's body-camera footage and that it contained graphic images of Arbery lying dead on the ground.
In an attempt to avoid any outburst in the courtroom, Walmsley asked anyone who felt uncomfortable watching the video to step out of the room.
Nov 05, 2021, 3:59 PM EDT
Bryan's attorney defers opening statement
Kevin Gough, the defense attorney for William "Roddie" Bryan, told the judge that he wants to wait to give his opening statement until after the prosecution presents its case.
While Judge Timothy Walmsley described the strategy as unusual and one that he's never encountered in his decade on the bench, he granted Gough's request.
Franklin Hogue, an attorney for Gregory McMichael, told jurors that when his client saw Arbery running past his home on Feb. 23, 2020, he was certain it was the same man he saw in videos shown to him by neighbors of a suspected burglar targeting the Satilla Shores community.
"Greg was absolutely sure, he was absolutely certain, and his suspicions were well-founded," Hogue said.
He agreed with Travis McMichael's attorney, Rubin, that the elder McMichael feared that the man he and his son were chasing was armed with a gun.
He said that while in the rear bed of his son's pickup on the phone with police, Greg McMichael saw Arbery running in his direction away from Bryan's truck.
"Then you hear him yell, 'Stop right there, damn it! Stop,'" Hogue said, referring to the recorded 911 call Gregory McMichael was on. "Then the last word you hear was him saying is 'Travis.'
He's in abject fear that he is about to witness his only son shot and killed in front of his very eyes," Hogue said.
Hogue said that following the shooting, Gregory McMichael had a lengthy interview with police in which he said, "My intention was to stop this guy so he could be arrested or identified."
"The truth of this case is that Greg McMichael is not guilty of any of these crimes," Hogue said.
Nov 05, 2021, 3:36 PM EDT
Travis McMichael was attempting to 'de-escalate' when he shot Arbery: Attorney
Rubin said that on the day of the shooting, a neighbor saw Arbery go into the house under construction and make eye contact with the man.
He said Arbery bolted from the house and ran at the pace of a 6-minute mile. Rubin said Gregory McMichael saw Arbery and recognized him from videos neighbors shared of the unidentified man who had been seen multiple times at the home construction site.
Rubin said the older McMichael went into the house and told his son that the man they had been on alert for just ran by. He said Travis McMichael grabbed his shotgun because he feared the man might be armed because of what occurred on his previous encounter with him.
He said that when the McMichaels caught up to Arbery in their truck, Travis McMichael told the man they just wanted to talk to him to find out what he was doing in the neighborhood, but that Arbery said nothing and continued to run.
Defense attorney Robert Rubin speaks during opening statements in the trial of the accused killers of Ahmaud Arbery at the Gwynn County Superior Court on Nov. 5, 2021 in Brunswick, Ga. Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, are charged with the February 2021 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
ABC News
Rubin said the McMichaels had every right under the state's citizen's arrest law to detain Arbery for the police, adding, "When seconds count, police are often minutes away."
He acknowledged that Travis McMichael parked his truck and got out with his shotgun when he saw Arbery running away from Bryan's truck and back toward him. He said Travis McMichael called 911 on his cellphone and handed it to his father as Arbery charged toward him, ignoring orders to stop.
"Before the first shot is fired they called the police. That is not intent to commit murder," Rubin said.
He said Travis McMichael raised his gun at Arbery from 20 yards away because "that is how you de-escalate violence."
The evidence is played on a screen during opening statementsin the trial of the accused killers of Ahmaud Arbery at the Gwynn County Superior Court on Nov. 5, 2021 in Brunswick, Ga. Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, are charged with the February 2021 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
Pool/Getty Images
"If he wanted to kill him this is an open shot," Rubin said.
Rubin said Arbery moved to the opposite side of the pickup away from Travis McMichael and then came around the front of the truck and lunged at the armed man, trying to take his gun. That's when Travis McMichael fired the first of three shots at Arbery.
"It's tragic that Ahmaud Arbery lost his life, but at that point, Travis McMichael is acting in self-defense," Rubin said. "He did not want to encounter Ahmaud Arbery physically. He was only trying to stop him for the police."
He asked the jury to find Travis not guilty on all charges.
