A Georgia jury resumed deliberating on Wednesday the fates of three white men charged with trapping Ahmaud Arbery with their pickup trucks and fatally shooting him.
"Your oath requires that you will decide this case based on the evidence," Judge Timothy Walmsley told the jury before sending the panel off to begin their deliberations on Tuesday.
The jury got the case after Linda Dunikoski, the Cobb County, Georgia, assistant district attorney appointed as a special prosecutor in the Glynn County case, took two hours to rebut the closing arguments made on Monday by attorneys for the three defendants.
The jury, comprised of 11 white people and one Black person, heard wildly different summations on Monday of the same evidence in the racially-charged case. Dunikoski alleged the defendants pursued and murdered Arbery because of wrong assumptions they made that the Black man running through their neighborhood had committed a burglary, while defense attorneys countered that Arbery was shot in self-defense when he resisted a citizen's arrest.
Travis McMichael, the 35-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran; his father, Gregory McMichael, 65, a retired Glynn County police officer, and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 53, each face maximum sentences of life in prison if convicted on all the charges.
The defendants have pleaded not guilty to a nine-count state indictment that includes malice murder, multiple charges of felony murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with a 12-gauge shotgun and aggravated assault with their pickup trucks.
The McMichaels and Bryan were also indicted on federal hate crime charges in April and have all pleaded not guilty.
Gregory McMichael's attorney says don't make Arbery a victim
Laura Hogue, an attorney for Gregory McMichael, pleaded with the jury not to make Arbery out as an innocent victim, suggesting the man with a big smile made bad decisions that led him to Satilla Shores on the day he died.
Hogue prompted gasps in the courtroom, saying, "Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made do not reflect the reality of what brought Arbery to Satilla Shores in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long dirty toenails."
Greg McMichael, center, sits in the courtroom during a recess in his trial and the trial of his son Travis McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan, at the Glynn County Courthouse, Monday, Nov. 22, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. The three men charged with the February 2020 slaying of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.
AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, Pool
She said prosecutors have not proven that Gregory McMichael is guilty of malice murder and therefore innocent of all the rest of the charges he faces.
"Gregory McMichael pulled no trigger. How could the state seek a conviction for malice murder as Greg stood in the back of the pickup truck on the phone with 911 as the fatal shots were fired?" Hogue asked the jury.
Nov 22, 2021, 1:33 PM EST
Defense attorney alleges Arbery was assaulting Travis McMichael with his fists
Defense attorney Jason Sheffield said that when Travis McMichael and his father got into their truck and chased Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, they had probable cause that Arbery had committed a felony break-in based on the totality of evidence they had at the time.
The defense attorney cited the increase in crime in the Satilla Shores neighborhood, the confrontation Travis McMichael had with Arbery 12 days earlier at the unfinished home in which he believed Arbery was armed, that he had previously been shown security video of the young Black man in the home on several occasions and that suddenly there was a neighbor pointing in the direction the same man was running after he left the construction site.
Travis McMichael sits with his attorneys before the start of closing arguments to the jury during his trial and of his father Gregory McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan, charged with the February 2020 death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, at the Glynn County Courthouse, in Brunswick, Georgia, U.S. November 22, 2021.
Pool/Reuters
"Travis believes he's committed the offense of burglary," Sheffield said.
Sheffield said that under the law, the McMichaels had the right to make a citizens' arrest and to be armed with firearms to make the arrests.
He said Travis McMichael was keeping an eye on Arbery to tell police the man's whereabouts when Arbery found himself between Bryan's pickup truck and the McMichaels' truck.
Sheffield said that as Arbery ran directly at Travis McMichael, he was told the stop and even turned around when Travis McMichael reached into his truck and pulled out his shotgun.
Sheffield said the second time Arbery allegedly charged at Travis McMichael, the defendant raised his weapon as a deterrent and that he was fearful Arbery had a gun and was just hoping he would keep running by.
The defense attorney then told the jury that when Arbery came around the front of Travis McMichael's truck and physically confronted the armed man and was using his fists as a weapon.
"Fists are that weapon," Sheffield said, adding that at that time, Travis McMichael fired three shots at Arbery he was afraid Arbery "would beat him with his fists," take his gun and kill him.
Playing a video Bryan took that partly showed the fatal struggle, Sheffield asked, "Is there any question that Ahmaud Arbery is assaulting Travis McMichael right before that third shot? Not one single bit of question."
"It is absolutely horrific and tragic that this has happened and this is where the law becomes intertwined with heartache and tragedy," Sheffield said. "You are allowed to defend yourself, you are allowed to use force that's likely to cause death or serious bodily injury if you believe it's necessary."
He asked the jury to acquit Travis McMichael on all charges.
Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, began his closing argument with the statement, "Duty and responsibility and following law will always be intertwined with heartache and tragedy."
He added, "This case is about three things: it's about watching, it's about waiting, it's about believing."
Sheffield added that Travis McMichael spent nearly a decade in the U.S. Coast Guard "learning about duty and responsibility."
"He received extensive training on how to make decisions that would ultimately impact his beliefs as a petty officer in the Coast Guard, as a boarding officer in the Coast Guard," said Sheffield, adding that Travis McMichael trained on probable cause, use of force and using a gun to deter crime to the point it was part of his "muscle memory."
He said around the time Arbery was killed, the neighborhood of Satilla Shores was experiencing an increase in crime and suspicious people lurking in the neighborhood. He cited the testimony of several residents of the community who testified.
"They told you that this was happening in their neighborhood scared them," Sheffield said.
Sheffield directed the jury to an encounter Travis McMichael had with a man who was later identified as Arbery outside a home under construction in the neighborhood that Arbery was seen several times on security video entering.
Sheffield said the offense of burglary does not have to constitute a break-in, or a broken window or busted door.
"That's not what's required for the law. Those questions are meaningless and they are red herrings," Sheffield said. "You just have to break the plane of the structure to constitute a burglary."
Nov 22, 2021, 11:42 AM EST
State wraps closing arguments, asks jury to use 'common sense'
The prosecutor told the panel that all three defendants are guilty of the crimes they are charged.
She said the evidence shows the McMichaels and Bryan used their pickup trucks to falsely imprison Arbery, that Bryan admitted to police that he tried to block Arbery several times and once ran him into a ditch during the five-minute chase.
She cautioned the jury that the defense attorneys will make it seem logical that it was reasonable for the three men on trial to be scared of Arbery and that he was attacking them, and that Travis McMichael "had to pull a shotgun out on him."
"They're going to make it seem so reasonable," Dunikoski said. "Put on your critical thinking caps. Use your common sense when they're up here giving their closing arguments."
