Ahmaud Arbery Death: Prosecutors, Defense Select From 1,000 Jury Candidates

GEORGIA — Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of three white men accused of chasing and gunning down Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black jogger.

Gregory McMichael, 65, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and William "Roddie" Bryan, 51, all stand accused of playing a part in the shooting death of the 25-year-old Arbery, whom the trio encountered while he was jogging on Feb. 23, 2020.

Jury selection could last two weeks or more.

Before the selection process begins, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley first planned a morning hearing to address legal issues that must be resolved before the trial starts. Court officials in Glynn County mailed jury duty notices to 1,000 people, expecting a potentially slow process to find jurors in a community where the slaying dominated news coverage and swamped social media feeds.

The case will be followed closely outside Georgia, too. Arbery's killing stoked outrage in the summer of 2020 during a period of national protests over racial injustice. More than two months passed before the McMichaels and Bryan were charged and jailed, only after video of the shooting leaked online and state investigators took over the case from local police.

Felony charges of malice murder, false imprisonment, and felony murder, or causing a death while committing a felony, are among the offenses the men face in the trial in the coastal Georgia community of Glynn County.

Claiming they believed Arbery was trying to break into a home where he was jogging, the three men chased Arbery in pickup trucks and cornered him in a Glynn County neighborhood before shooting him, prosecutors said. Gregory McMichael, a former policeman, invoked Georgia’s Civil War-era citizen’s arrest law.

Investigators have testified they found no evidence of crimes by Arbery in the Satilla Shores subdivision.

Initially, no charges were filed against the McMichaels and Bryan until a video surfaced of the incident purportedly filmed from Bryan’s cell phone, and Arbery’s family and loved ones fought for legal action.

Pressure from the widespread release of the video — along with reporting on the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of white police — helped spark a nationwide movement over racial reckoning and eventually led to charges against Bryan and the McMichaels.

Earlier this year, Georgia lawmakers rewrote the citizen's arrest law at the behest of Gov. Brian Kemp, outlawing the type of vigilante reprisal that is alleged to have been involved in Arbery’s death.

Also, the trio on trial was indicted on federal hate crime charges over accusations that they interfered with Arbery's rights, and on one count each of attempted kidnapping, according to federal court records.

Cobb County Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski has been assigned to prosecute the case.

Last month, charges were brought against former Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson, alleging that she violated her oath of office and hindered law enforcement. Revelations emerged that Gregory McMichael, who had previously been one of Johnson’s investigators, reached out to her for advice after the shooting. The indictment claims that Johnson showed “favor and affection” toward him and directed “that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”

— The Associated Press contributed.

See also:

• Ahmaud Arbery: Killing Of Black Georgia Jogger Goes To Grand Jury
• Federal Hate Crime Charges Filed in Ahmaud Arbery Killing
• Jury Indicts All 3 Suspects In Ahmaud Arbery Fatal Shooting
• Lead Prosecutor In Ahmaud Arbery Case Leaves Cobb DA's Office
• Ahmaud Arbery Shooting Death Trial To Start October: Reports
• Grand Jury Indicts Brunswick DA For Violating Duty In Ahmaud Arbery Case