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[VIDEO] The land of the free? The Ahmaud Arbery murder

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The parents of an African American man slain in a pursuit by two armed white men have called for the immediate arrest of those responsible instead of waiting a month or longer before a grand jury in the state of Georgia could consider bringing charges.

One of the men alleged to have killed Ahmaud Arbery, Gregory McMichael, worked as an investigator in the Glynn County district attorney's office. He retired last year.

"I think no arrests have been made because of the title he carried as a retired police officer." Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery's mother, said in an appearance on Good Morning America on Thursday.

An outside prosecutor in charge of the case said he wants a grand jury to decide whether criminal charges are warranted. That will not happen until at least mid-June, since Georgia courts remain largely closed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A swelling outcry over the February 23 shooting of Arbery intensified this week after a cellphone video that lawyers for his family say shows the killing surfaced online Tuesday.

Following the video's release, a large crowd of demonstrators marched in the neighbourhood where Arbery was killed, and the state opened its own investigation, which the governor and attorney general pledged to support.

The men who pursued Arbery before shooting him told police they believed he had committed a recent burglary in the area.

Cooper-Jones, told reporters Wednesday she believes her 25-year-old son "was just out for his daily jog" in a neighbourhood outside the port city of Brunswick, Georgia. She said she has not seen the video and has no desire to do so.

"I saw my son come into the world," Jones said. "And seeing him leave the world, it's not something that I'll want to see ever."

Attorneys for Arbery's family said the father and son shooters, who have acknowledged in a police report grabbing guns and pursuing Arbery in a truck after seeing him running in their neighbourhood, should be arrested now instead of awaiting an indictment from a grand jury - as often happens in criminal cases.

"These men were vigilantes, they were a posse, and they performed a modern lynching in the middle of the day," said Lee Merritt, a lawyer for Arbery's mother.

According to an incident report filed by Glynn County police, Arbery was shot after two men spotted him running in their neighbourhood on a Sunday afternoon.

Gregory McMichael told police that he and his adult son thought the runner matched the description of someone caught on a security camera committing a recent break-in in the neighbourhood. They armed themselves with guns before getting in a truck to pursue him.

The father said his son, Travis McMichael, got out of the truck holding a shotgun, and Arbery "began to violently attack" him. He said Arbery was shot as the two men fought over the shotgun, according to the police report.

After Arbery was shot, the police report says, Gregory McMichael turned him onto his back to see if he was armed. The report does not say whether he had a weapon.

A phone number listed for Gregory McMichael has been disconnected. The Associated Press could not immediately find a phone listing for Travis McMichael.

Macabre video
The cellphone video, initially posted by a Brunswick radio station, shows a Black man jogging along the left side of a road. A pick-up truck is parked in the road ahead of him. One man is inside the truck's bed, and another is standing beside the open driver's side door.

The runner crosses the road to pass the truck on the passenger side, then crosses back in front of the truck. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the runner grappling with a man in the street over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle.


US: Video shows Black man Ahmaud Arbery gunned down while jogging (2:32)
A second shot can be heard, and the runner can be seen punching the man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The runner staggers a few feet and falls, face down.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said in a Wednesday tweet: "Honestly and selfishly, I didn’t want to watch the murder" of Arbery.

Honestly and selfishly, I didn’t want to watch the murder of #AhmaudArbery. I didn’t want to feel that nauseating churn of my stomach I get each time “it” happens. But that feeling doesn’t compare to the loss and sadness of his and too many other families. May justice be served.

— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) May 7, 2020
"I didn’t want to feel that nauseating churn of my stomach I get each time 'it' happens", Bottoms continued. "But that feeling doesn’t compare to the loss and sadness of his and too many other families. May justice be served."

Tom Durden, the district attorney appointed to oversee the case, declined to comment on Tuesday when asked if the video depicts Arbery's shooting.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation got involved on Wednesday after Durden requested the agency's help. GBI Director Vic Reynolds said he assigned three supervisory-level agents to the case.

"I realize that emotions are running high in this community and they're running high throughout this state," Reynolds said in a statement. "And the last thing anyone wants to do is extend us any patience. But I also realize that this investigation must be done correctly."

Georgia law says a person can kill in self-defence "only if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily injury ... or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony." The law also says a person who provokes an attack or acts as "the aggressor" can not claim self-defence.

Political outcry

Merritt, the attorney for Arbery's mother, said the US Justice Department should also investigate the death as a hate crime.

"The FBI has said it's assisting," said Justice Department spokesman Matt Lloyd, "and as is standard protocol, we look forward to working with them should information come to light of a potential federal violation."

The killing has drawn calls for justice from state and national authorities across the political spectrum.

Republican Governor Brian Kemp late Tuesday threw his support behind the GBI probe. He tweeted: "Georgians deserve answers. State law enforcement stands ready to ensure justice is served."

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, also a Republican, spoke out as well.

"Based on the video footage and news reports that I have seen, I am deeply concerned with the events surrounding the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery," Carr said in a statement. "I expect justice to be carried out as swiftly as possible."

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, also weighed in. "The video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood," Biden tweeted, referring to the death as a "murder".

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a figurehead of the left-wing of the Democratic party, said in a tweet Thursday morning that Arbery was "murdered for being Black".

The Arbery family "deserves justice", Ocasio-Cortez said. "Our country deserves answers."

Ahmaud Arbery was murdered for being Black.

His White assailants were allowed to roam free *for months* after lynching him. They faced no charges, no arrests. Police had video of Ahmaud’s murder the day it happened.

Jackie Johnson, the district attorney for Glynn County, recused herself from the case because Gregory McMichael worked as an investigator in her office.

George Barnhill, the first outside prosecutor on the case, stepped aside in mid-April at the urging of Arbery's family. Barnhill has a son who works as an assistant prosecutor for Johnson.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/ahmaud-arbery-family-calls-arrests-death-200507122209498.html
 
Warning: Distressing video.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am trembling with anger over what I just witnessed. CLICK AWAY if you need to. ⁣<br>⁣<br>We need ALL HANDS ON DECK.<br>⁣<br>This is the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery.<br>⁣<br>It’s one of the worst things I’ve seen in my entire life. <br><br>&#55356;&#56728;Meet us now @ <a href="https://t.co/AIYI5FD2sn">https://t.co/AIYI5FD2sn</a> to demand justice. <a href="https://t.co/7cqn3q737M">pic.twitter.com/7cqn3q737M</a></p>— Shaun King (@shaunking) <a href="https://twitter.com/shaunking/status/1257700960618643459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Horrible.
 
Disgusting animals. RIP to the victim.

If I was black in the US, I would carry a gun with me all the time.
 
Bilal_103 said:
That just gives them another reason to shoot you and cry wolf.
Click to expand...

If guns are legal in your state, your black ,its crazy not to have them. Its your right to self defence.
 
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I think all minorities in the US need to arm themselves.. we are living through a sad era in the US. Trump has emboldened closet racists who are armed to the teeth and ready to take law into their own hands.
 
A father and son have been arrested and charged in the US state of Georgia for the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man.

Gregory McMichael, aged 64, and Travis McMichael, aged 34, were detained on Thursday by the state bureau of investigation.

They were both charged with murder and aggravated assault, investigators said in a statement.

Mr Arbery, 25, was jogging in February when he was confronted by the pair.

The failure to bring charges against the McMichaels, who are white, in the weeks after the shooting provoked widespread outrage.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced late on Thursday that both men had been taken into custody.

The bureau said the father and son had confronted Mr Arbery with two firearms, and it was the younger McMichael who shot and killed him.

Mr Arbery was out running in the coastal city of Brunswick early in the afternoon of 23 February.

In a police report, Gregory McMichael says he saw Mr Arbery and believed he resembled the suspect in a series of break-ins.

He and his son armed themselves and pursued him in a pick-up truck.

In the police report, Gregory McMichael says he and his son had said "stop, stop, we want to talk to you" and that Mr Arbery had attacked his son. Shots were fired, with Mr Arbery falling to the street in the Satilla Shores neighbourhood.

Mr Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, said police told her her son had been involved in a burglary before the incident, but the family say they do not believe the keen jogger had committed a crime and he was unarmed.

A number of calls were made to the emergency services around the time of the confrontation, CBS reports. In one 911 call, a neighbour said a black man was seen at a home under construction in the area.

When asked what the man was doing now, the caller said "running down the street".

What evidence is there?
Nationwide uproar erupted this week over the case as mobile phone video emerged that appeared to show the shooting.

The footage, reportedly taken by another man in the neighbourhood, purportedly shows the McMichaels waiting for Mr Arbery as he jogs down the road in broad daylight.

The 36-second clip was shot from a vehicle following the pick-up truck said to be involved in the incident.

A man is seen jogging and then approaching the stationary pick-up from behind.

He tries to bypass the truck and then is seen struggling with a man carrying a shotgun. There is muffled shouting and shotgun shots.

A second man is standing in the bed of the pick-up. The second man is then shown with a pistol standing alongside the other armed man with the jogger no longer in view.

What is the Arbery family saying?

The victim's father told PBS Newshour on Thursday that his son exercised in the area daily and stayed across the street at his mother's house.

"I don't know why they racially profile him and done him like that," said Marcus Arbery, "because all he did is work out and ran and just took care of his body, because he had dreams now.

"Now all his dreams are gone, because they took his life for nothing."

Asked about the suggestion that his son could have been implicated in a burglary, Mr Arbery said that was "just a lie and a cover-up".

"The video speaking everything for itself," he said. "Check that lynch mob out."

The family lawyer, Benjamin Crump, said the footage shows a "horrific execution".

The attorney also claimed Gregory McMichael was not initially charged because he had worked as a police officer and a detective for the local district attorney for over 30 years.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52585505
 
President Donald Trump has called the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man in the US state of Georgia, a "very disturbing situation".

Mr Arbery was jogging in February when Gregory McMichael and his son Travis, who are white, confronted him. They now face murder and assault charges.

"My heart goes out to the parents and the family and friends," Mr Trump told Fox News on Friday.

The case drew national attention when video of the death emerged on Tuesday.

Police had not charged the McMichaels for more than two months, but the pair were detained on Thursday by the state bureau of investigation.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, are in the custody of the Glynn County Sheriff's Department, officials said on Friday.

Both were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault.

State investigators earlier said the father and son had followed Mr Arbery and confronted him with two firearms, and the younger McMichael shot and killed him.

Mr Arbery would have turned 26 on Friday. Rallies have taken place outside of courthouses in Glynn County and in neighbouring Jacksonville, Florida.

Online, supporters of Mr Arbery have been using the hashtag #IRunWithMaud, sharing photos and running 2.23 miles (3.6km) in remembrance of the day he died, 23 February.

What did Trump say?

Speaking on the Fox & Friends programme on Friday morning, the president said he had seen the footage, which he described as "troubling" to anyone who watched it.

Mr Trump said the state's governor and law enforcement would be looking at the case "very strongly".

When asked about the racial issues at play in the case, the president said "justice getting done is the thing that solves that problem".

"But it's a heart-breaking thing."

Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and a White House adviser, has also weighed in, asking in a tweet "why it seemingly took months, the release of a video and corresponding public outrage to catalyse action".

At a briefing later, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked whether the US Department of Justice would get involved in the case. Ms McEnany did not rule out the possibility.

A justice department spokesperson told the BBC the FBI is assisting with the investigation.

"As is standard protocol we look forward to working with them should information come to light of a potential federal violation," said the statement.

What has the family said?

"I just want justice for my son," Mr Arbery's father, Marcus, told CNN on Friday. He said the arrest was a "relief" for the family, and described his son's killing as a "lynching".

"He was a very good young man," Mr Arbery said of his son. "His heart was just bigger than life."

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the family, asked for the same justice for Mr Arbery as if the situations were reversed and Mr Arbery and his father had attacked an unarmed white man.

"We know beyond a shadow of a doubt they would've been arrested on day one," Mr Crump said, adding that he does not trust the local police department.

He called for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) to investigate the officers who did not arrest the McMichaels.

"Either they were incompetent or it was intentional."

What's the status of the investigation?

GBI Director Vic Reynolds told reporters at a news conference on Friday that the McMichaels had been taken into custody without incident.

He said the investigation is ongoing. The individual who filmed the video - another local man - is also under investigation.

When asked about the previous police investigation into the case, Mr Reynolds said he could not comment, but that it had "gotten to a good point".

Mr Reynolds also noted that his agents were able to secure warrants for murder within 36 hours.

"I think that speaks volumes for itself in that the probable cause was clear to our agents very quickly."

He said in a "perfect world" his agency would have been involved back in February, but by the end of the case, "every stone will be turned over, I promise you".

On Tuesday, Atlantic Circuit District Attorney Tom Durden ruled a grand jury should consider the case and accepted Governor Brian Kemp's offer to have the GBI investigate.

Report

Mr Durden is the third prosecutor involved, as two local district attorneys eventually recused themselves due to professional connections to Gregory McMichael, who is a former police detective.

Two county commissioners have told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that in February, District Attorney Jackie Johnson did not allow police to arrest the McMichaels immediately after the shooting.

"The police at the scene went to her, saying they were ready to arrest both of them," Commissioner Allen Booker said. He claimed Ms Johnson "shut them down to protect her friend [Gregory] McMichael".

Her office has not commented to local media, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

The second attorney had told police he believed the father and son had used citizen's arrest rights in confronting Mr Arbery.

The shooting has led to a wave of outrage from national figures, including presidential candidate Joe Biden and basketball star LeBron James.

Mr Biden said Mr Arbery had been "shot down in cold blood" and "essentially lynched before our very eyes".

Mr James tweeted: "We're literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!"

How did Arbery die?

Mr Arbery was out for a jog in the city of Brunswick early in the afternoon on 23 February - something his father said he did often.

Gregory McMichael told police he believed Mr Arbery resembled the suspect in a series of local break-ins.

Mr McMichael and his son armed themselves with a pistol and a shotgun and pursued Mr Arbery in a pickup truck in the Satilla Shores neighbourhood.

The elder Mr McMichael told police he asked Mr Arbery to stop and talk, and claims the 25-year-old attacked his son.

The 36-second clip appears to show the younger Mr McMichael firing a shotgun at point blank range at Mr Arbery and the victim falling to the street.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52593029
 
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How did it take so long to arrest two men who were videotaped shooting a man to death?

Gregory McMichael told police he believed Mr Arbery resembled the suspect in a series of local break-ins.
Click to expand...

Pro-gun advocates, is this a "good guy with a gun"?
 
Jay -Z, Alicia Keys Write Open Letter to GA Officials Demanding Justice for Ahmaud Arberry

*Wait, who said activism in entertainment was dead? All you gotta do is look at what’s going on with Jay-Z, Meek Mill and others over at Roc Nation regarding Ahmaud Arbery.

Those artists and others are publicly being vocal about demanding justice for the slaying of Ahmaud Arbery. They’re demanding a speedy trial and conviction of his killers.

Jigga, Meek and other Roc Nation artists, along with Alicia Keys and Yo Gotti, have signed an open letter they’re releasing this weekend, according to TMZ, which is made out to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Georgia AG Christopher Darr and local District Attorney Tom Durden.

Here’s their bottom line: Put Gregory and Travis McMichael on trial ASAP (but fairly) so that felony convictions can fall on them. That’s not all. They want William Bryan, the man who videoed the incident, arrested and tried as an accomplice, too.

“By now, we’ve all seen the crime’s disturbing video, so the facts here are not in doubt: He was unarmed and innocent and the victim of a hate crime,” the open letter says. “Which is why we call upon you today, as official leaders of the Great State of Georgia, and with the entire world watching, to ensure that a fair trial is conducted, as that can only lead to the appropriate felony convictions of both McMichaels. We also implore you to charge William Bryan as an armed accomplice to the crime.”

They add that D.A. Durden must recuse himself from the case because of a conflict of interest — namely, the elder McMichaels is a former cop and they know each other.

Jigga and crew do acknowledge that the first step necessary for healing was the arrest of both McMichaels.

“We truly appreciate that you have arrested and charged these men with Ahmaud’s murder, and are hopeful that a trial and conviction will show that, in the state that gave us Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and has been the site of the best and worst of the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King’s words do ring true: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.'”

There’s one other item they’re asking for and it’s very important. They’re insisting on a special prosecutor being assigned in the case which they want done with urgency.

https://eurweb.com/2020/05/10/jay-z...ficials-demanding-justice-for-ahmaud-arberry/
 
Ahmaud Arbery shooting: Demand for answers over killing of unarmed black man

The US Department of Justice has been asked to investigate how the shooting of an unarmed black man has been handled by police and prosecutors.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was allegedly murdered by two white men - father and son Gregory McMichael, 64, and 34-year-old Travis McMichael.

Mr Arbery was shot dead on 23 February as he ran through a neighbourhood in Brunswick, Georgia - but no charges were brought for more than two months.

Then last week a 36-second video emerged appearing to show the shooting, and shortly after the leak the McMichaels were arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault.

Georgia's attorney general Chris Carr has asked the US Department of Justice to intervene in the case, saying questions must be answered about how it was handled.

It comes after musicians including Jay-Z and Alicia Keys signed an open letter on Sunday calling for quick action.

Mr Carr said in a statement: "We are committed to a complete and transparent review of how the Ahmaud Arbery case was handled from the outset.

"The family, the community and the state of Georgia deserve answers, and we will work with others in law enforcement at the state and federal level to find those answers."

Gregory McMichael said he thought Mr Arbery looked like a suspect in a series of recent break-ins, according to a police report.

Mr Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was jogging in the neighbourhood before he was killed.

He has been described by those who knew him as a "very good young man".

Hundreds of people joined a protest on Friday in Brunswick, near the site where Mr Arbery was shot.

The open letter signed by celebrities was sent from the social justice arm of rapper Jay-Zs Roc Nation entertainment company and published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

It said: "By now, we've all seen the crime's disturbing video, so the facts here are not in doubt: He was unarmed and innocent and the victim of a hate crime."

Singer Alicia Keys said: "If anybody saw that horrifying video of his killing, it is heartbreaking, unbelievably unacceptable and inhumane.

"No human being should be murdered and not receive justice. I have black sons and they should be able to go on a jog or anywhere they want without the risk of being killed."

It called for district attorney Tom Durden to be taken off the case due to a possible conflict of interest as Gregory McMichael is a former police officer.
https://news.sky.com/story/ahmaud-a...rs-over-killing-of-unarmed-black-man-11986340
 
This seems like a racist and senseless attack. Shooters should get death penalties if found guilty.
 
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms decried the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot after being pursued by a father-son duo in a predominately white neighbourhood in the US state of Georgia, as a "lynching" and said the rhetoric of United States President Donald Trump emboldens racists.

Bottoms, the Democratic mayor of Georgia's largest city, called the killing "heartbreaking" during an interview with CNN on Sunday. "It's 2020 and this was a lynching of an African-American man."

The two men charged with murder and aggravated assault in the killing, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were taken into custody on Thursday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) more than two months after the February 23 killing, which took place in the Brunswick area, about a four-hour drive from Atlanta.

The arrest came after a video of the killing was made public, prompting a nationwide outcry.

Speaking to CNN, Bottoms went on to call out the president, saying that "with the rhetoric we hear coming out of the White House in so many ways, I think that many who are prone to being racist are given permission to do it in an overt way we otherwise would not see in 2020."

Trump has long been accused of racism by critics. His 2016 campaign for president featured comments widely regarded as offensive towards Mexicans and Trump has severely limited immigration and asylum for predominately non-white groups. After a white supremacist rammed his car into a group of anti-racist protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump said there were "very fine people" on both sides of the protests.

The Justice Department under Trump has also taken a lax approach to officer-involved killings that were allegedly racial in motivation, Bottoms added.

"We don't have that leadership at the top right now. It's disheartening," she told CNN.

Trump told Fox News on Friday that his "heart goes out" to Arbery's family. "Justice getting done is the thing that solves that problem."

Bottoms's comments came the same day Georgia's attorney general asked federal prosecutors to investigate local law enforcement's response to the fatal shooting.

State Attorney General Chris Carr said in a statement that he asked the US Justice Department to open a probe into how the case was handled by two local prosecutors and the Glynn County Police Department.

Video of the shooting captured by a witness in a vehicle near the scene shows Arbery jogging down a narrow two-lane road and around the McMichaels's pick-up truck, stopped in the right lane with the driver's door open.

As Arbery crosses back in front of the truck, a gunshot is fired. Arbery is then seen struggling with a man holding a rifle as a second man stands in the bed of the truck brandishing a pistol. Two more shots are heard before Arbery stumbles and falls face down onto the asphalt. GBI said it was Travis McMichael who fired the fatal round.

According to a police report obtained by the New York Times, Gregory McMichael, a former Glynn County police officer and district attorney's investigator, told detectives the incident began when he spotted Arbery from his front yard running down the street.

The elder McMichael told police that because he suspected Arbery in a string of recent neighbourhood break-ins, he and his son gave chase in the truck, with Gregory McMichael carrying a .357 Magnum revolver and Travis armed with a shotgun.

Gregory McMichael said Arbery began to attack his son, fighting him for the shotgun, prompting the son to open fire.

According to a letter obtained by The New York Times, prosecutors argued there was not probable cause to arrest the McMichaels because they were legally carrying firearms and had a right to pursue a burglary suspect and use deadly force to protect themselves.

Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her 25-year-old son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighbourhood before he was killed.

On Saturday, the GBI confirmed that it had obtained other photos of video that might shed light on the case. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published footage from a surveillance camera at a Brunswick home near where Arbery was shot that shows someone who appears to be Arbery walking into a home under construction. Arbery then came back out and ran down the street. Someone else comes out across the street from the construction site, and then a vehicle drives off farther down the street, near where Travis McMichael lives.

Lawyers for Arbery's family say the video bolsters their position that Arbery did nothing wrong, and shows he did not commit a felony. Under Georgia law, someone who is not a sworn police officer can arrest and detain another person only if a felony is committed in the presence of the arresting citizen.

"Ahmaud's actions at this empty home under construction were in no way a felony under Georgia law," the lawyers wrote in a social media post. "This video confirms that Mr Arbery's murder was not justified and the actions of the men who pursued him and ambushed him were unjustified."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...g-ahmaud-arbery-lynching-200511121810947.html
 
Justice Department weighs hate crime charges in death of Ahmaud Arbery

The U.S. Justice Department is weighing whether to file hate crime charges against the white men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was gunned down while jogging in the small coastal town of Brunswick, Georgia, department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said on Monday.

“The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia have been supporting and will continue fully to support and participate in the state investigation. We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate,” Kupec said in a statement.

The Justice Department announcement comes just days after state investigators arrested a white former police officer, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, on charges of murder and aggravated assault.

The Feb. 23, shooting death of 25-year-old Arbery was captured on a video that has since gone viral on social media. The shooting and video sparked outrage across the country, with civil rights activists saying it marks yet another example of white perpetrators attacking an innocent black man.

Critics have questioned why it took local law enforcement more than two months to arrest the suspects, prompting Georgia’s state attorney general to vow to investigate the delay.

Kupec said on Monday that the Justice Department is also looking into how the investigation was handled.

“We are considering the request of the Attorney General of Georgia and have asked that he forward to federal authorities any information that he has about the handling of the investigation,” Kupec said.

“We will continue to assess all information, and we will take any appropriate action that is warranted by the facts and the law.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...arges-in-death-of-ahmaud-arbery-idUSKBN22N29X
 
American society and its gun crazy individuals are sick.

And just imagine if there were no video "leak". These animals who killed a human being in cold blood would be free.

What a sad situation. Hope these killers rot in jail and hell. I don't have much faith in Americam law enforcement/justice department tho.
 
To be honest, I dont like all these celebrities latching on to the whole issue

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Oprah Winfrey has joined a growing list of celebrities demanding justice for Ahmaud Arbery, the black Georgia man whose killing has sparked national outrage and calls for a hate-crime investigation.

“He went out for a jog while being Black,” she wrote on her Instagram page. “I wonder what was he thinking in those last seconds of his life? Unimaginable to go for a run in 2020 and end up dead because of the color of your skin.”

The media mogul also said she spoke with Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, a day before his 26th birthday to share her condolences.

Friday’s Instagram post came on the same day that people across the country celebrated his birthday by walking or running 2.23 miles — a reference to the date he was killed, Feb. 23.

Winfrey also shared a video of her and her family completing the #IRunWithMaud walk.

“As a family, we walked in the name of justice, in the name of his birthday and we’re sending blessings to his family,” she said in the video.

Arbery’s killing gained national attention after a graphic video of the shooting surfaced on social media last week. The shocking footage shows the unarmed jogger being cornered and shot by white ex-cop Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis, in a quiet neighborhood outside Brunswick.

The two men claimed they were hunting down a suspect in a supposed string of burglaries in the area and were able to evade arrest for more than two months.

After the video prompted a national uproar and the case was turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the pair was finally arrested on murder and aggravated assault charges.

Georgia’s attorney general named a new prosecutor Monday to handle the investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice is considering hate-crime charges against the suspects.

https://www.nydailynews.com/snyde/n...0200512-bef2vdoeerblzalirb7u4copqe-story.html
 
The attorney general in the US state of Georgia has asked state law officers to investigate allegations of misconduct by local prosecutors in the killing of a black man who was chased by a white father and son, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday.

The GBI said Attorney General Chris Carr requested the investigation of how the district attorney offices in Brunswick and Waycross handled the February 23 killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. More than two months passed before the arrests of Gregory and Travis McMichael. They were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault after video of the shooting appeared online and prompted outrage. The United State Department of Justice also said it was weighing federal hate crime charges. Georgia has no hate crime law allowing state charges.

"Unfortunately, many questions and concerns have arisen regarding, among other things, the communications between and actions taken by the District Attorneys of the Brunswick and Waycross Circuits. As a result, we have requested the GBI to review in order to determine whether the process was undermined in any way," Carr said in a statement Tuesday.

Carr has asked federal authorities to investigate how local police and prosecutors handled the case. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement that Carr has been asked to "forward to federal authorities any information that he has."

New district attorney appointed
Carr also appointed a black district attorney from suburban Atlanta on Monday to take over the case, making her the fourth prosecutor in charge of a case that has prompted a national outcry over suspicions that race played a role in delaying arrests.

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M Holmes will take over the case from prosecutor Tom Durden, who the state's attorney general said asked to be replaced by a prosecutor with a large staff as "this case has grown in size and magnitude". Holmes is based in metro Atlanta, more than 300 miles (480km) from the coastal Georgia community in Glynn County where the shooting happened.

"District Attorney Holmes is a respected attorney with experience, both as a lawyer and a judge," Carr, a Republican, said in a statement. "And the Cobb County District Attorney's office has the resources, personnel and experience to lead this prosecution and ensure justice is done."

Holmes served four years a magistrate judge in suburban Cobb County before Governor Brian Kemp appointed her last July to succeed GBI Director Vic Reynolds as district attorney. According to the Georgia Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Holmes is one of only seven black district attorneys in the state.

An attorney for Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery, applauded the appointment of a new lead prosecutor.

"In order for justice to be carried out both effectively and appropriately in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, it is imperative that the special prosecutor has no affiliation with the Southeast Georgia legal or law enforcement communities," attorney Benjamin Crump said in a statement. He asked that Holmes "be zealous in her search for justice".

The McMichaels told police they chased Arbrey because they believed he matched the appearance of a burglary suspect caught on surveillance video. Arbery was hit by three shotgun blasts, according to an autopsy report released Monday by the GBI; one shot grazed his right wrist, and the other two struck him in the chest. Blood tests for various drugs and alcohol all came back negative.

Many have expressed frustration with the investigation, questioning whether the arrests took so long because the suspects are white and the victim black. The killing happened in a subdivision just outside Brunswick, a working-class port city of about 16,000 that also serves as a gateway to beach resorts on neighbouring islands.

The McMichaels were not arrested until after the video became public and the GBI was asked to look into the killing. Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, have been jailed since Thursday. Neither man had lawyers at their first court appearances on Friday, done by video link from the Glynn County jail.

With courts largely closed because of the coronavirus, getting an indictment needed to try the men on murder charges will take a while longer still. The soonest a grand jury can convene to hear the case will be mid-June.

Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County police officer who later worked 20 years as an investigator for the local district attorney's office. He retired a year ago.

Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself from the case because the elder McMichael had worked under her. The first outside prosecutor appointed, District Attorney George Barnhill of the neighbouring Waycross Judicial Circuit, stepped aside about a month later because his son works for Johnson as an assistant prosecutor. Durden got the case in mid-April, but the case didn't appear to advance until the emergence of the video.

At the White House, President Donald Trump said Monday he's following the case "very closely" and that Arbery "looks like a wonderful young guy."

"Certainly the video, it was a terrible-looking video to me," Trump said. "But you have a lot of people looking at it, and hopefully an answer's going to be arrived at very quickly."

Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, has said she thinks her son, a former high school football player, was just jogging in the neighbourhood before he was killed.

The leaked video shows a black man running at a jogging pace. A truck is stopped in the road ahead of him, with one white man standing in the pick-up truck's bed and another beside the open driver's side door.

The running man attempts to pass the pick-up on the passenger side, moving briefly outside the camera's view. A gunshot sounds, and the video shows the running man grappling with a man over what appears to be a shotgun or rifle. A second shot can be heard, and the running man can be seen punching the other man. A third shot is fired at point-blank range. The running man staggers a few feet and falls face down.

A man who says he recorded the mobile phone video of the shooting said he had received death threats.

William R Bryan is identified as a witness in the police report taken after Arbery's shooting. He has not been charged.

"I had nothing to do with it," Bryan told WJAX-TV in an interview that aired Monday. "I was told I was a witness, and I'm not sure what I am, other than receiving a bunch of threats."

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...-seeks-probe-prosecutors-200512132444729.html
 
The mother of Ahmaud Arbery, who was killed while out for a jog near his home in Georgia, believes "there will be justice".

The 25-year-old was shot by a white father and son in an attack his family say was clearly racist.

"He was African-American, he was jogging in a predominantly white neighbourhood - he was targeted for the colour of his skin," says Wanda Cooper-Jones.

Gregory and Travis McMichael were charged with murder last week.

It was the first time any arrests had been made in the case, despite Ahmaud being killed on 23 February. The McMichaels admitted to killing Ahmaud in the initial police report, claiming they acted in self-defence.

Given the time that had passed, the arrests surprised Wanda.

"In the very beginning, when it first occurred, I thought it was going to be covered up. Everything was working in that direction. If we didn't find the right resources to push the issue we wouldn't have an arrest today."

She adds: "They visited a crime scene where there was a man dead. And all parties that were responsible were able to return home while my son was taken to the morgue."

The Glynn County Police Department says it has "sought justice in this case from the beginning".

'He loved life'
Ahmaud, from Brunswick in Georgia, was "humble, happy and well-mannered", according to his mum.

"He loved life. He was love. To know Ahmaud was to love Ahmaud."

He had dreams of being a "very successful electrician, like his uncles are".

"Ahmaud was young. He loved - so I'm quite sure he dreamed of having a wife and kids.

"All that was taken away."

Wanda says it's been "long, stressful and hopeless" trying to get Ahmaud's name out there in the months since his death.

Ordinarily with cases like this we would expect to see pictures of demonstrators out on the streets. But Ahmaud was killed as coronavirus began its spread and the lockdown started.

"I really was getting to a point where I never thought I would receive justice."

The family set up the #RunWithMaud Facebook page, which encouraged people to dedicate their workouts to the 25-year-old and share the hashtag.

But it was a video of the shooting going viral that changed things. It was filmed from a vehicle following Ahmaud and shows him jogging towards a stationary truck ahead of him. He tries to bypass the truck and is seen struggling with a man carrying a shotgun. There is muffled shouting and three gunshots.

Two days later the first arrests came.

"I haven't viewed the video, but I think it's good that it came out," says Wanda, who was "really surprised" by the arrests.

Lawyer for the family Lee Merritt says "we shouldn't have needed a video" for an arrest to be made, adding that it's "not something that should be for this kind of public consumption. I don't think it's helpful for the African-American community".

"If nothing else, that video has angered, frightened, and stirred up emotions in a lot of different people... it obviously was a catalyst to get us to justice," he says.

William Bryan, who filmed the video, is being investigated.

The prosecutors
In America, district attorneys are the people in charge of prosecuting people in different counties. Ahmaud's case is now on its fourth, which lawyer Lee says is unheard of.

Two district attorneys removed themselves from the case due to professional connections to Gregory McMichael. The 64-year-old is a former police officer who also worked as an investigator for the local district attorney for years and had retired in 2019.

Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill's handling of the investigation is now being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

And the federal government, which operates across the whole of the USA rather than just in individual states, is now involved too - with Donald Trump saying he is "disturbed" by the case.

"We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crime charges are appropriate," Department of Justice (DOJ) spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said, adding that the FBI is also involved.

Georgia, where Ahmaud was killed, is one of four states in America with no hate crime statutes, but the federal government can file those charges.

"I represent a lot of victims of high-profile police shootings - and Gregory McMichael is a police officer.

"I always ask for a special prosecutor and almost never get one. I almost always ask for a DOJ investigation and almost never get one. And to have the people who failed to act, to have them being investigated? Almost never happens."

He says that things in South Georgia and all over the country "are very tense" due to coronavirus.

"There has been an increase in police violence, particularly against African Americans, as they tried to enforce social distancing. I think this was a bridge too far and the powers that be understand they have to respond accordingly."

Last week, 8 May, would have been Ahmaud's 26th birthday.

On the day Wanda received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey, something she says "really meant a lot".

"Ahmaud's gone, but people are actually supporting us nationally - so that makes me feel good."

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52644384
 
Gregory McMichael, who was charged in shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery, spent years of his decades-long tenure at a Georgia district attorney's office without maintaining proper training as a law enforcement officer which led to a suspension, records obtained by Al Jazeera reveal.

McMichael, 64, and his son Travis were charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the February 23 killing of Arbery, a 25-year-old unarmed Black man, in the predominately white neighourhood of Satilla Shores, about 280 miles (450km) outside of Atlanta, Georgia.

The McMichaels were not arrested for more than two months after the killing. It was not until a video was released showing the deadly encounter and an ensuing national outcryfor action that the pair were arrested, on May 7.

Some have alleged McMichael's long work tenure at the Brunswick district attorney office - where he worked from 1995 to 2019 - played a role in the delayed arrest.

District attorneys from Brunswick and Waycross, Georgia, both recused themselves from the case due to professional ties to the McMichael family. Georgia's attorney general has requested a probe into their response.

The records, delivered to Al Jazeera by the Glynn County open records officer, show that in 2014 McMichael was suspended for a lack of hours in required training. McMichael first lapsed in training hours in 2006.

It appears McMichael did not have the power of arrest from 2006 to 2014, a power necessary for law enforcement to carry out several tasks. This could present legal difficulties, according to the documents. McMichael again lost his power to arrest just months before he retired in 2019.

'Liability'

A 2014 email to District Attorney Jackie Johnson, the current DA of Glynn County whose office is currently under investigation in relation to the Arbery case, shows that another investigator who spoke with McMichael about the lapse in training found that "liability for any improper actions by Greg would fall on Greg, the District Attorney's Office and you personally".

Johnson's office did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment. Johnson has denied any bias in the case in interviews with local media.

Johnson wrote to the agency overseeing McMichael's training certification that the lapse was "a great embarrassment to me and Investigator McMichael".

McMichael lists personal health and financial difficulties, as well as a failure to receive proper accreditation, as reasons for the lapse in training hours in a document that appears to be part of a waiver for hours missed.

McMichael suffered a heart attack in October 2006, he says in the document.

The document includes further claims of health concerns, both for himself and his wife, including a second heart attack in 2009. That year, McMichael writes, he filed for bankruptcy due in part to medical expenses.

"As is the case with many heart attack survivors, I began to suffer from post heart attack Clinical Depression," he writes.

"The depression made me unable at times to focus on important tasks" like attaining the proper hours of law enforcement training, McMichael continued.

Further lapse

Years of records appear to show that McMichael was viewed as good at his job by supervisors, though disorganised.

An undated performance evaluation says McMichael "completes tasks in a timely manner", many of which are "beyond the scope of his daily requirements".

It continues: "Although often lacking neatness in his personal office, he interacts well with his fellow employees and often mediates conflicts."

Previous evaluations critiqued McMichael for not dressing appropriately - though he showed improvement - and disorganisation. All say he was respectful of colleagues and some claim he readily admitted his faults.

McMichael lapsed in training again in 2019 after failing to obtain the necessary training in 2018 and was given a different role instead of making up the hours due to his impending retirement, documents show.

The McMichaels have told police they pursued Arbery because they believed he was a "burglary suspect". Arbery's mother said she believes her son was just going for a job in the neighbourhood.

"While the death of Ahmaud Arbery is a tragedy, causing deep grief to his family - a tragedy that at first appears to many to fit into a terrible pattern in American life - this case does not fit that pattern. The full story, to be revealed in time, will tell the truth about this case," Frank Hogue, one of the attorneys representing McMichael, said in a statement emailed to Al Jazeera.

'Numb'

For Arbery's family, the pattern is clear. Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery's mother, has called out the slow law enforcement response to her son's killing.

"I think no arrests have been made because of the title he carried as a retired police officer," Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery's mother, said in an appearance on ABC's Good Morning America programme last week.

US Ahmaud Arbery

A small roadway memorial marks the area where jogger Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed in Brunswick, Georgia [Erik S Lesser/EPA]
Now that the McMichaels have been apprehended and charged, she is hopeful.

"I was in a numb state because I had waited for ... two months and two weeks," Cooper-Jones told the NBC Nightly News programme.

Cooper-Jones said she hopes justice will be served.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...acked-training-documents-200515144454365.html
 
The United States man who filmed mobile phone video footage of Ahmaud Arbery's fatal shooting in the state of Georgia was arrested Thursday and charged with murder in his death.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said 50-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan was arrested on charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Arbery, an unarmed black man, was killed on February 23 after a white father and son armed themselves and pursued him after spotting the 25-year-old man running in their neighbourhood. More than two months passed before authorities arrested Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.

Bryan lives in the same subdivision, and the video he took from the cab of his vehicle helped stir a national outcry when it leaked online. Bryan's lawyer, Kevin Gough, did not immediately return a phone message.

Gregory McMichael, a retired investigator for the local district attorney, told police he thought Arbery was a burglar. He said Arbery attacked his son before he was shot.

Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, has said she believes her son was merely out jogging.

The delay in criminal charges and a mobile phone video of the shooting leaked shortly before the May 7 arrests fuelled national outrage over Arbery's death, with many saying he was targeted because he was black.

Last week, defence lawyers for the McMichaels cautioned against rushing to judgment. They said they soon plan to seek a preliminary hearing from a magistrate judge in Glynn County - a hearing at which new details might be revealed.

Gregory McMichael worked as an investigator for the local district attorney for more than two decades before he retired last year.

Lawyers for Arbery's family and others have blamed the delay in arrests in part on the elder McMichael's ties to local law enforcement. The McMichaels were not charged until after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was brought into the case in early May.

Meanwhile, three district attorneys have passed on prosecuting the case, which now resides with the district attorney of Cobb County in metro Atlanta.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ing-video-charged-murder-200521221544542.html
 
The prosecutor in the US state of Georgia now handling the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery spoke for the first time about the case on Friday, pledging to "make sure that we find justice" for a broken family and community.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director (GBI) Vic Reynolds also appeared alongside Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes, saying that "at this point we feel confident the individuals who needed to be charged have been charged".

Arbery, an unarmed Black man, was killed on February 23 after a white father and son armed themselves and pursued him after spotting the 25-year-old man running in their neighbourhood, a video of the incident shows. More than two months passed before authorities arrested Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.

Holmes and Reynolds's news conference at GBI headquarters in Decatur followed the arrest on Thursday of William "Roddie" Bryan Jr on charges of felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Bryan, 50, is the man whose cellphone video of Arbery's shooting prompted a national outcry.

"We are going to make sure that we find justice in this case. We know that we have a broken family and a broken community down in Brunswick," Holmes said.

Asked how Bryan could be charged with murder if he did not pull the trigger on the weapon used to kill, Reynolds referred to Bryan's arrest warrant, which says he tried "to confine and detain" Arbery without legal authority by "utilising his vehicle on multiple occasions" before Arbery was shot.

Bryan's lawyer, Kevin Gough, has said his client played no role in Arbery's death, asserting that: "Roddie Bryan is not now, and has never been, more than a witness to the shooting."

But the GBI director said on Friday that "if we believed he was a witness, we wouldn't have arrested him".

Under Georgia law, a felony murder charge means that a death occurred during the commission of an underlying felony and does not require intent to kill. A murder conviction in Georgia carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, either with or without parole.

GBI investigation to wrap up soon

Reynolds said the investigation into Arbery's killing was still active and continuing but that he expected his investigators would finish soon and hand over the case to Holmes. He said he also expected an investigation into the handling of the case by two local prosecutors to be completed soon and turned over to the attorney general's office.

The GBI was also working "hand in hand" with federal officials, Reynolds said. Since Georgia lacks a hate crime law, any hate crime prosecution would have to be undertaken by the US Justice Department.

Gregory McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was a burglar and that Arbery attacked his son before being shot. Bryan lives in the same subdivision, just outside the port city of Brunswick. Arbery's mother has said she believes her son was just running in the neighbourhood.

After Bryan's video leaked online on May 5, Governor Brian Kemp called the slaying "absolutely horrific". The GBI took over the case from local police and the arrests of the McMichaels followed on May 7.

Ahmed Arbery

A white and orange cross with an 'A' on it stands stuck in the ground along Highway 17 at the entrance of the Satilla Shores neighbourhood where Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed young Black man, was killed [Dustin Chambers/Reuters]
The Glynn County police incident report says Gregory McMichael told an officer that at one point Arbery "began running back the direction from which he came and `Roddy' attempted to block him which was unsuccessful". It is the only mention in the police report of any potential involvement by Bryan.

Gough did not immediately return email and text messages on Friday. He did not answer his phone and his voicemail was full. His statement on Monday said Bryan "is not a vigilante. Roddie did not participate in the horrific killing of this young man. Mr Bryan has committed no crime, and bears no criminal responsibility in the death of Ahmaud Arbery."

Lawyers for Arbery's parents expressed gratitude over Bryan's arrest.

"We called for his arrest from the very beginning of this process," lawyers S Lee Merritt, Benjamin Crump and L Chris Stewart said in a statement. "His involvement in the murder of Mr Arbery was obvious to us, to many around the country and after their thorough investigation, it was clear to the GBI as well."

Gregory McMichael retired last year after more than two decades as an investigator for the local prosecutor's office. Because of those ties, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson recused herself. Two other outside prosecutors stepped aside in succession before Holmes was appointed.

Now Bryan is behind bars along with the McMichaels in the Glynn County jail. A judge has yet to decide whether to free them on bond pending trial. Attorneys for the father and son have urged people not to rush to judgement.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...tor-pledges-find-justice-200522153300535.html
 
Ahmaud Arbery shooting being investigated as federal hate crime, family’s lawyer says

A lawyer representing the family of Ahmaud Arbery has said that the US Department of Justice is investigating his killing as a possible hate crime.

Lee Merritt said federal authorities are not only pursuing the hate crime line, but are also investigating two local county officials, George Barnhill and Jackie Johnson, who recused themselves from the case shortly after the killing in February, according to several news reports quoting him.

Mr Barnhill and Ms Johnson both resigned under pressure over conflicts of interests, as they had professional connections with the killers, Gregory and Travis McMichael – and in his letter of recusal, Mr Barnhill recommended that no arrest be made in the case. Ms Johnson is alleged to have made a similar recommendation.

Mr Arbery, who was black, was killed by the white McMichaels after they chased him down their street, where he was jogging, and began an altercation with him while each carrying a gun. The incident ended with Mr Arbery fatally shot.

While the killing occurred on 23 February, it was only after a video of the killing shot by a neighbour of the McMichaels recently went viral that the two men were arrested and charged. The man who shot the video, William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., has since been charged with charges including felony murder.

While the state of Georgia does not have a hate crimes law, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is reportedly co-operating with the federal Department of Justice as it looks into the case.

There are several sets of circumstances under which a hate crime can be prosecuted by the department’s Civil Rights Division instead of state authorities, including that “a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice” and that “the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to state charges did not demonstratively vindicate the federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence.”

The law was originally introduced in the late 1960s to sanction bias-motivated crimes at the federal level. It has in part been used to ensure that hate-motivated crimes can be investigated and prosecuted even where they occurred in states whose authorities had a history of routinely overlooking them.

The original law included race, color, religion and national origin as circumscribed motives for committing a crime against somebody; over the years, gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation have been added to the definition.

As the fallout from the Arbery killing has continued, other incidents involving him have come to light, recently including a 2017 encounter with the police in which an officer attempted to tase him. He was apparently being questioned by them after they asked him why he was sitting in his car alone in a park.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...doj-greg-travis-mcmichael-video-a9532246.html
 
One of the men accused of murdering unarmed black man Ahmaud Arbery in the US state of Georgia used a racial slur after shooting him, a court has heard.

A Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent said Travis McMichael used the slur while Mr Arbery was on the ground.

The agent said co-defendant William Bryan heard him use the slur.

Mr Arbery was jogging when he was chased down by Travis McMichael and his father Gregory in Brunswick on 23 February.

The McMichaels and William Bryan are facing murder charges.
 
A grand jury in the US state of Georgia has indicted three white men in the killing of unarmed black man Ahmaud Arbery in February, officials say.

Travis McMichael, his son Greg, and William Bryan were indicted by Glynn County's Grand Jury on charges including malice and felony murder.

Mr Arbery, 25, was jogging when he was shot dead during a confrontation with the father and son on 23 February.

The incident in Brunswick was captured on a video, drawing a national outcry.

"This is another positive step, another great step for finding justice for Ahmaud, for finding justice for this family and the community beyond," District Attorney Joyette Holmes said on Wednesday.

Reacting to the jury's indictment, Mr Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told NBC Nightly News: "At this point I do believe the case is moving in the right direction.

"This just empowers us to fight. This is just the first steps of it - we still have a long way to go."

Defence lawyers for the McMichaels have cautioned against a rush to judgment, the Associated Press reports.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for Mr Bryan, who filmed Mr Arbery's death on his mobile phone, has maintained that his client was merely a witness.

Huge protests have recently been taking place across the US following the death of another unarmed black man, George Floyd, in police custody last month.

What happened to Ahmaud Arbery?

In the moments before the fatal confrontation, Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis, 34, armed themselves with a pistol and shotgun and pursued Mr Arbery in a pickup truck in Brunswick's Satilla Shores neighbourhood.

Gregory McMichael later told police he believed that Mr Arbery resembled the suspect in a series of local break-ins.

Mr Bryan's 36-second video leaked online on 5 May, generating a nationwide outcry that was swiftly followed by murder charges. It was filmed by Mr Bryan from his vehicle while he was driving behind Mr Arbery.

The clip appears to show Mr Arbery running down a tree-lined street as the McMichaels wait ahead for him in their vehicle.

A tussle follows between the younger McMichael and Mr Arbery, who falls to the ground.

The three defendants were not charged until more than two months after Mr Arbery was killed. State police began investigating after footage of the incident circulated.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53173416
 
The three white men charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in south Georgia pleaded not guilty on Friday morning in Chatham County Superior Court, in a case that spurred a national outcry after cellphone video footage of the shooting appeared on the internet.

Arbery, 25, who was killed on February 23 while jogging just outside the coastal town of Brunswick, became a touchstone in cross-country protests over racial and social injustice in the United States.

A former law enforcement officer, Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, are charged with murder and aggravated assault.

They were charged in May after cellphone video footage of the shooting was leaked on social media and sparked nationwide protests.

Police have claimed that Travis uttered a racial slur following Arbery's alleged murder.

Their neighbour who took the cellphone video, 50-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan Jr, was charged with murder and attempt to illegally detain and confine.

The three defendants chased Arbery in pick-up trucks and sought to box him in.

A grand jury indicted the three men in June on charges of malice and murder. They remain in detention without bond.

Police say Gregory McMichael saw Arbery jogging through his neighbourhood outside of Brunswick and believed he looked like a burglary suspect.

The elder McMichael called his son and the two armed themselves and drove after Arbery.

Bryan joined the chase in his own vehicle, police say, and took a video recording of the incident on his phone, which appears to show the McMichaels confronting Arbery before he was shot with a shotgun.

Judge Timothy Walmsley accepted the not guilty pleas and waived arraignment at the request of the defendants' lawyers.

No court date was immediately set, but there were several motions pending for later on Friday morning on behalf of Bryan, including a request for bond.

"Keeping him in jail isn't going to accomplish anything," Bryan's attorney, Kevin Gough, told reporters on Thursday.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...ad-guilty-murder-charges-200717144502146.html
 
A Georgia judge has denied bond for a father and son charged in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man, after two days of hearings.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, are accused of murder and aggravated assault.

Prosecutors presented evidence of racially charged text messages by the younger McMichael, as friends and family were questioned about the pair.

Mr Arbery, 25, was jogging in February when he was confronted and killed.

For more than two months afterward, police did not charge the McMichaels, who are white, until the shooting attracted widespread media attention and provoked outrage.
 
A nearly all-white jury, with one black member, has been seated in the Georgia murder trial of three white men over the shooting of a black jogger in 2020.

The judge noted the appearance of "intentional discrimination" in jury selection but said the trial over Ahmaud Arbery's killing would proceed.

Gregory McMichael and his son Travis have pleaded not guilty, saying they acted in self-defence.

But prosecutors argue there was racial bias at play.

Opening arguments begin on Friday.

Last May, Mr McMichael, 64, his 34-year-old son and neighbour William Bryan - who filmed a video of the incident - were arrested. All three have denied all charges and any accusations of racism.

Mr Arbery was out on an afternoon run on 23 February when he was confronted by the McMichaels, who were armed with a pistol and shotgun. Lawyers for Mr Arbery's family have said he was unarmed at the time.

The father and son later told police they believed the jogger resembled the suspect in a series of alleged break-ins and accused Mr Arbery of attacking the younger McMichael while they attempted to make a "citizen's arrest".

When can you shoot as self-defence?
Jury selection lasted two and a half weeks. On Wednesday, the prosecution accused the defence of eliminating potential jurors based on race, noting that defence attorneys used 11 of their allotted 24 strikes to reject black jurors.

The prosecution meanwhile used all 12 of its strikes to reject white jurors.

Attorneys for the McMichaels said they were "stuck between a rock and a hard place" because many prospective jurors had already formed attitudes toward the men.

Three dismissed jury candidates had said in screening forms that they had supported the "I run with Maud" group which held jogs after Mr Arbery's death.

One black woman in the jury pool had recorded a TikTok dance tribute, illustrating her "emotional connection to Mr Arbery", said a lawyer for Mr Bryan.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution cites a black woman on the jury pool as having said: "They hunted him down and killed him like an animal. The whole case was about racism."

Judge Timothy Walmsley said: "There appears to be potential intentional discrimination in the panel."

But he concluded the court lacked the authority to reseat a jury panel as there were valid reasons aside from race for rejecting the individuals.

Last week Wanda Cooper Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, told me she had faith in the jury selection process for the trial of the men who killed her son.

Now she talks of her shock that, after more than two weeks of questioning prospective candidates, only one of the 12 jurors will be black. That in a town which is majority African American and a county where more than a quarter of people are black.

A protest march outside the court on the eve of the swearing in of the jury gave an indication of the strength of feeling here.

Supporters of Mr Arbery's family feel strongly that the background of the jurors will have a bearing on the outcome of trial in which centuries of overt discrimination are seen to have had a hand in the way in which the men killed him, in the reaction to the killing among different groups of people, and in the way in which the police did not make an arrest in the case for more than 10 weeks and only after there was national outcry.

The lopsided result may have been inevitable, said Page Pate, a local defence lawyer who is not attached to the case.

"This is a case that is going to involve a lot of testimony and evidence about racial prejudice and racial feelings, especially in this South Georgia community," he told the BBC. "It's a great place but it's very divided racially."

The trial is taking place in Glynn County, a small coastal community where Mr Arbery lived.

Mr Pate said for black Glynn County residents, "there's a strong likelihood you either knew Ahmaud Arbery or someone in his family, because it's a very close knit community, or you were involved on social media or in demonstrations".

"As a result, I think there was more scrutiny placed on potential black jurors just by nature of their community."

Mr Pate added that Judge Walmsley's comments on Wednesday were to be expected but should have been worded differently in order to avoid further controversy.

He was following the law, said Mr Pate, but the phrasing may not have made sense to most people.

Denise De La Rue, a trial consultant in Georgia, pointed out that Americans from ethnic minorities tend to be under-represented on most juries, but there should still have been more black jurors vetted.

She noted that, because the county's black population hovers around 26%, an ideal number would have been three.

"That's the problem with having the trial in this venue," said Ms De La Rue. "What we're left with is something that looks pretty lopsided."

But she suggested that, given the highly charged nature of the case, "many of the white jurors left on the panel would be very concerned about returning a verdict that appeared to be a racist one".

"I don't think [the makeup of the jury] means the defence has an easy road ahead."

BBC
 
Three white men have been found guilty of killing a black jogger last year in a case that became a rallying cry to racial justice protesters.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was shot on 23 February 2020 in a confrontation with Travis and Gregory McMichael and their neighbour, William Bryan.

The defendants said they acted in self-defence during a citizen's arrest; prosecutors said race was a factor.

The men now face minimum sentences of life in prison.

A mainly white jury of 12 deliberated for about 10 hours before returning their verdict at around midday on Wednesday.

The trio were found guilty of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.

BBC
 
Ahmaud Arbery murder: Three white men who chased and shot black man out running sentenced to life in prison

Three white men who chased and shot a black man as he ran through their neighbourhood have been sentenced to life in prison for his murder.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was pursued and cornered by Travis McMichael, 35, his father Gregory McMichael, 66, and their neighbour William 'Roddie' Bryan, 52, on 23 February 2020 in Satilla Shores just outside the city of Brunswick, Georgia.

Mr Arbery was then shot by Travis McMichael.

All three defendants pleaded not guilty to nine charges each, including murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment, and were convicted in November.

The McMichaels will spend the rest of their lives in prison, but Judge Timothy Walmsley ruled that Bryan could seek parole after at least 30 years.

During the sentencing hearing at Glynn County Court, Mr Walmsley said he had given the McMichaels the harshest sentence open to him - partly because of their "callous" words and actions captured on video.

Referring to mobile phone footage of the murder, in which Travis McMichael begins to lift his shotgun at Mr Arbery, Mr Walmsley said it was a "chilling, truly disturbing scene".

The judge added that Mr Arbery was "hunted down and shot, and he was killed because individuals here in this courtroom took the law into their own hands".

The McMichaels pursued him in a truck after grabbing their guns, before Bryan joined in and recorded the video, which emerged online two months later and became part of a larger national reckoning on racial injustice.

Mr Arbery's family addressed the court and argued that racial stereotyping led to his murder.

Jasmine Arbery said her brother's "dark skin glistened in the sunlight like gold", adding that he had a "broad nose and the colour of his eyes was filled with melanin".

"These are the qualities that made these men assume Ahmaud was a dangerous criminal," she said.

"To me, those qualities reflected a young man full of life and energy who looked like me and the people I love."

https://news.sky.com/story/ahmaud-a...-running-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-12511323
 
Racists acting like vigilantes. Justice has been served.
 
ATLANTA, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The family of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger who was chased by three white men in pickup trucks and gunned down in south Georgia in 2020, says that the men's federal hate crimes trial will do what the state court did not - reckon with race.

The three men - a father and son and their neighbor - were convicted last November in a Brunswick, Georgia state court of murdering Arbery, 25, and sentenced to life in prison.

"That's not enough," said Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery, who believes issues of race raised in the new trial may have an impact beyond the courtroom.

"My son isn't coming back," but "maybe it'll save another Black son," he said.

Civil rights activists say the new trial, which begins on Feb. 7, is a key moment in the country's reckoning with racial injustice. Arbery's murder was another example of deadly violence being used against a Black man, they say.

Gregory McMichael, 66, a former police officer, his son Travis McMichael, 36, and William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, are each charged with interference with rights, a hate crime which carries a maximum of life in prison. All are also charged with attempted kidnapping, and the McMichaels face gun violations.

All three have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Their attorneys have declined to comment to Reuters.

Carol Anderson, an Emory University professor of African American studies who has watched the case closely, said the trial was "absolutely necessary" even though the men had already been convicted of murder.

"We must be clear, it was his blackness that put him in the crosshairs of these men," Anderson said. "And that makes this a hate crime. This is part of the truth telling that society must have."

The McMichaels and Bryan told police they thought Arbery was a burglar and that they tried to detain him as he ran through their mostly white Satilla Shores neighborhood. Arbery was shot after a five-minute chase by the men in their trucks. The McMichaels claimed Arbery grappled with the shotgun leveled by Travis McMichael, who fired the weapon.

In the six-week state trial, the prosecution largely avoided race. Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski mentioned it once in her closing arguments. The men attacked Arbery “because he was a Black man running down the street,” she said.

Dunikoski has not commented publicly on why she avoided race. In pre-trial hearings state prosecutors had reserved the option to introduce evidence of racial animus, including Travis McMichael's vanity license plate featuring the flag flown by the southern pro-slavery Confederacy during the 1861-1865 Civil War. Today it is viewed by some as a symbol of white supremacism and by others a reminder of their Southern heritage.

In an arraignment hearing in 2020, Special Agent Richard Dial of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said Bryan told his office that Travis McMichael uttered a racial slur as Arbery lay dying.

Dial also told the court that he had evidence from social media and elsewhere that Travis McMichael had used racial slurs in the past.

It is not clear whether the vanity plate or Dial's evidence will be featured in the new trial.

In recent closed-door pre-trial hearings, defense attorneys have argued over what evidence can and cannot be presented to the jury. Court documents on the pleadings have been sealed.
 
The white man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery after chasing the 25-year-old Black man in a Georgia neighborhood was sentenced Monday to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime.

Travis McMichael was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood in the port city of Brunswick. His punishment is largely symbolic, as McMichael was sentenced earlier this year to life without parole in a Georgia state court for Arbery's murder.

Wood said McMichael had received a "fair trial."

"And it's not lost on the court that it was the kind of trial that Ahmaud Arbery did not receive before he was shot and killed," the judge said.

McMichael was one of three defendants convicted in February of federal hate crime charges. His father, Greg McMichael, and neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan had sentencing hearings scheduled later Monday.

The McMichaels armed themselves with guns and used a pickup truck to chase Arbery after he ran past their home on February 23, 2020. Bryan joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun.
The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a burglar. Investigators determined he was unarmed and had committed no crimes. Arbery’s family said he was out jogging.

Arbery's killing became part of a larger national reckoning over racial injustice and killings of unarmed Black people including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky. Those two cases also resulted in the Justice Department bringing federal charges.

Wood scheduled back-to-back hearings Monday to individually sentence each of the defendants, starting with Travis McMichael.

Greg McMichael and Bryan, who are also white, also face possible life sentences after a jury convicted them in February of federal hate crimes, concluding that they violated Arbery's civil rights and targeted him because of his race. All three men were also found guilty of attempted kidnapping, and the McMichaels face additional penalties for using firearms to commit a violent crime.

A state Superior Court judge imposed life sentences for all three men in January for Arbery's murder, with both McMichaels denied any chance of parole.

All three defendants have remained jailed in coastal Glynn County, in the custody of U.S. marshals, while awaiting sentencing after their federal convictions in January.

Because they were first charged and convicted of murder in a state court, protocol would have them turned them over to the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve their life terms in a state prison.

In a court filings last week, both Travis and Greg McMichael asked the judge to instead divert them to a federal prison, saying they won't be safe in a Georgia prison system that's the subject of a U.S. Justice Department investigation focused on violence between inmates.Arbery's family has insisted the McMichaels and Bryan should serve their sentences in a state prison, arguing a federal penitentiary wouldn't be as tough. Arbery’s parents objected forcefully before the federal trial when both McMichaels sought a plea deal that would have included a request to transfer them to federal prison. The judge rejected the plea agreement.

A federal judge doesn't have the authority to order the state to relinquish its lawful custody of inmates to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, said Ed Tarver, an Augusta lawyer and former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. He said the judge could request that the state corrections agency turn the defendants over to a federal prison.

After Arbery’s death, more than two months passed before any charges were filed. The McMichaels and Bryan were arrested only after the graphic video of the shooting leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police.

During the February hate crimes trial, prosecutors fortified their case that Arbery's killing was motivated by racism by showing the jury roughly two dozen text messages and social media posts in which Travis McMichael and Bryan used racist slurs and made disparaging comments about Black people. A woman testified to hearing an angry rant from Greg McMichael in 2015 in which he said: "All those Blacks are nothing but trouble."

Defense attorneys for the three men argued the McMichaels and Bryan didn't pursue Arbery because of his race but acted on an earnest — though erroneous — suspicion that Arbery had committed crimes in their neighborhood.

https://www.voanews.com/a/man-who-shot-ahmaud-arbery-gets-life-sentence-for-hate-crime-/6693005.html
 
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