Murdered in Broad Daylight: The Ahmaud Arbery Murder Trial

Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot dead by three white men while jogging near Brunswick, Georgia in February 2020. Like the Breonna Taylor case, the gravity of the incident did not emerge until sometime after the initial events. Three months later a video surfaced, showing two white men chasing Arbery through the neighborhood. Gregory McMichael is seen in the bed of his pickup truck, with his son, Travis McMichael standing next to him with a shotgun. A third man, William “Roddie” Bryan documented the attack and helped to corner the victim. A physical confrontation occurred between Arbery and Travis, which resulted in Travis fatally shooting Arbery.

This case is another incident in a long line of altercations between Black citizens and authorities. In this instance, Gregory McMichael, a retired police officer, and his son deputized themselves and sought to carry out a citizen’s arrest. The case sparked anger and protests in the United States due to the spurious nature of the citizen arrest procedure and the heinous way in which Arbery was essentially tracked down and murdered in broad daylight.

The trial has already raised a critical concern regarding fairness and equity. The jury selection process resulted in the seating of a majority white jury with 11 white members and 1 Black person. The trial began with the testimony of Ricky Minshew, first police officer to arrive at the murder scene. According to Minshew, one of the three white men, Bryan, “cornered” Arbery before Travis shot him to death. He saw two men running away from the scene with Arbery’s body on the ground drenched in blood.

"He appeared to be deceased," Minshew said, telling jurors he heard a noise he described as a "death rattle" coming from Arbery. Minshew did not administer CPR due to a lack of medical training and supplies in his patrol car. He immediately called emergency responders

The three defendants are accused of murder and other hate crimes in the Arbery case. The defense attorneys for Greg and Travis argued they were trying to conduct a citizen’s arrest of Arbery. They suspected Arbery was a burglar who may have stolen from a home under-construction house in the neighborhood. They stated that Travis and Arbery were fighting over the shotgun when things escalated. The struggle led to Travis allegedly opened fire in an act of self-defense. The defense attorneys told the jury that their clients “were right” in their suspicion of Arbery because he allegedly matched the burglar’s description.

Jeff Brandeberry testified he the first officer to confront Gregory, testified he never used words like, “detain”, “trespass” or “arrest” when he first interviewed him at the crime scene. Gregory claimed that he had allegedly seen Arbery on videotape burglarizing multiple homes. “McMichael appeared “pretty amped up” and “animated” when we arrived”, the officer elaborated. When interviewed later by detectives at the station, McMichael alleged Arbery was burglarizing one home.

Arbery was an avid runner, substantiated by images of his worn shoes, in addition, even though Arbery is seen in surveillance footage wandering inside the under-construction site, he was never observed removing anything from the property. Video footage from the site, however, does reveal a white couple carrying bags around the house.

Kevin Gough, a defense attorney for William “Roddie” Bryan, raised concerns about the presence of several notable Black pastors in the courtroom. Gough remarked: “Obviously there’s only so many pastors they can have. And if their pastor’s Al Sharpton right now that’s fine, but then that’s it. We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here… sitting with the victim’s family trying to influence the jurors in the case.” Gough later apologized for his remarks.

Prosecutors are urging the jurors to charge the three defendants with several felonies as they chased an unarmed black man through the neighborhood in Glynn County and shot him to death. The lead prosecutor, Linda Dunikoski, told the jury that all three defendants made their decision to chase Arbery based solely on “assumptions – not on facts, not on evidence.” This mindless decision led to a loss of innocent life, she added.