After 11 Days Of Questioning, 65 Jurors Qualify In Ahmaud Arbery Murder Trial

BRUNSWICK, GA — The first round of jury selection for the three men accused of murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery finally finished Tuesday night after 11 days of questioning, with 65 potential jurors qualifying.

The court now has to narrow down the jury pool to the final 12 jurors and four alternates, which is expected to be completed Wednesday, First Coast News reported. Opening statements are possible Thursday.

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. The shooting, which was captured on video, pushed Brunswick and Glynn County into the national spotlight.

However, a defense attorney said a request may be filed to move the trial out of Glynn County to a county with less trial publicity, according to Jason Sheffield, one of the lawyers representing Travis McMichael, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. Travis McMichael is accused of the actual shooting of Arbery.

Claiming they believed Arbery was trying to break into a home where he was jogging, the three men — who are all white — chased Arbery, an unarmed Black man, in pickup trucks and cornered him in a Glynn County neighborhood before shooting him, prosecutors said. Gregory McMichael, a former police officer, invoked Georgia's Civil War-era citizen's arrest law.

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.

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.

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

Initially, no charges were filed against the McMichaels and Bryan until a video of the shooting 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 officers — helped spark a nationwide movement over racial reckoning and eventually led to charges against Bryan and the McMichaels.

Additionally, the three men were indicted on federal hate crime charges over accusations 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.

See also:

• Ahmaud Arbery Slaying: Jury Selection Begins In Trial
• 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