Jury selection resumes slowly for murder trial of men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery
Ahmaud Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery, center, heads into the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Ga with his attorney Benjamin Crump on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. Jury selection got underway with hundreds of people ordered to report for what could be a long, laborious effort to find jurors to hear the trial of three white men charged with fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery as he was running in their neighborhood. (AP Photo/Lewis M. Levine)
Attorneys resumed questioning potential jurors Tuesday in the trial of three white men charged with chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery, with several jury pool members saying they know the defendants or other people close to the case.
By early afternoon, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley had not declared anyone qualified to remain in the final group from which the jury will be chosen. At least 11 pool members have been dismissed since jury selection began Monday afternoon.
The fatal shooting of Arbery on a residential street outside the port city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020, sparked a national outcry after a cellphone video of the killing leaked online two months later. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, are charged with murder and other crimes in the 25-year-old Black man’s death.
Jury duty notices were mailed to 1,000 people in coastal Glynn County, with 600 ordered to report Monday and the remainder on deck for next week if needed. The huge jury pool underscores how Arbery’s slaying dominated the news, social media feeds and workplace chatter locally.
At least five potential jurors told the judge and attorneys Tuesday they know people involved in the case. One said he knows Greg McMichael, while another said her husband and father-in-law know Bryan. Another woman said she knows Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr.
Two men said they know a prosecutor initially assigned to the case, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, one of them saying they’re members of the same Rotary Club.
Barnhill is no longer involved in the case: He recused himself, but first wrote a memo to police arguing that the shooting was justified.
One of the panel members who knows Barnhill said that just about everyone in Glynn County has some degree of familiarity with Arbery’s death. He acknowledged reading some court documents filed in the case on the court’s website before reporting to jury duty, but said he could set aside that information.
“I just don’t know what kind of evidence is going to be presented,” said the man, an executive for a local seafood company. “I just don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The judge made no immediate decisions on whether to excuse those panelists from the jury pool.
Court officials have said jury selection could take more than two weeks. And prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said the trial itself could push into the week before Thanksgiving.
The court has not identified the race of any of the prospective jurors.
Prosecutors say Arbery was merely jogging on the street 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from his home when the McMichaels grabbed guns and chased him in a pickup truck. Bryan joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded the now-infamous cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery three times at close range with a shotgun.
Defense attorneys insist the three men committed no crimes. Greg McMichael told police they believed Arbery was a burglar after security cameras previously recorded him entering a nearby home under construction. He said Travis McMichael fired in self-defense after Arbery punched him and tried to grab his weapon.
Prosecutors say there is no evidence that Arbery, who was unarmed, committed any crime.
For a deeper exploration of Ahmaud Arbery’s story, listen to WABE’s podcast, “Buried Truths.” Hosted by journalist, professor, and Pulitzer-prize-winning author Hank Klibanoff, season three of “Buried Truths” explores the Arbery murder and its direct ties to racially motivated murders of the past in Georgia.
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