Ahmaud Arbery’s killing trial begins

Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski speaks during opening statements at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, on November 5.

The trial of three men charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery began today in Glynn County, Georgia.

Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are charged with murder and aggravated assault.

Here’s what happened today in court:

The trial of three men charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery has adjourned for the day.

The trial will resume Monday at 9 a.m.

After a break to deal with some technical issues that made it difficult to play video and audio inside the courtroom for most of the day, court resumed with Glynn County police officer William Duggan back on the stand. 

The state played the graphic video from Duggan’s body-worn camera, which showed Ahmaud Arbery’s body lying in the street face down after he had been shot, then, as the video continued to play, the officer could be seen flipping Arbery over, exposing his blood covered wound. 

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, who remained in the courtroom while the video was played, placed her head in her hands and began to weep, according to a pool reporter in the room. 

One of the jurors was seen covering her face and seemingly unable to watch the video as it was played. 

The jury in the trial of three men charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery are watching the body camera footage from Glynn County police officer William Duggan.

The footage was captured on Feb. 23, 2020, after Duggan arrived at the scene in Brunswick, Georgia.

Defense attorney Bob Rubin speaks during a motion hearing at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, on November 4.

The defense attorney for one of the men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery said his client acted in self-defense. He called Arbery’s death “a tragedy” during his opening statements Friday afternoon.

Bob Rubin, one of the attorneys representing defendant Travis McMichael, painted a picture of a neighborhood that was fearful of break-ins and thefts in his opening statements. He attempted to frame McMichael as someone who had a responsibility to protect the Satilla Shore neighborhood where he lived, saying, “This case is about duty and responsibility” in the first lines of his address to the jury.

To support his claims, the defense presented a 911 call placed by McMichael on Feb. 11, 2020 – two weeks before Arbury was fatally sho – where the defendant told an operator, “We’ve had a string of burglaries … I just caught a guy running into a house being built two houses down from me, when I pulled around, he took off running into the house.”

Based on that incident, Rubin said Travis McMichael had “probable cause to believe that Ahmaud Arbery was a burglar.”

Sitting in the courtroom in a gray suite, Travis McMichael listened as Rubin shared how he had been enjoying a beautiful Saturday, when his father, Gregory McMichael, saw Arbery in a neighbor’s house that was under construction. Rubin told the court that Gregory McMichael ran into the house and told his son, “Travis, Travis that guy is running down the street.” Rubin continued detailing the exchange between the two men, with the elder McMichael telling his son that Arbery was running away from the neighborhood.

The pair got into their truck to follow Arbery, armed with their guns, according to Rubin, who said the weapons were “for their protection.” The defendants intended to detain Arbery for the police, said the attorney. Rubin suggested the shooting death was not murder because “Before the first shot was fired, they called the police.”

“That is not evidence of murder,” said Rubin.

When the men caught up with Arbery, the attorney claimed Travis McMichael showed his weapon in an effort to “de-escalate” the situation, but Arbery didn’t say anything to them and didn’t stop moving. Rubin said Arbery ran out of view and then reappeared. Travis was unclear if Arbery was armed, and at that point “fired his weapon in self-defense,” said Rubin.  

A pool reporter in the room said that Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones sighed heavily as this was said in court. 

Gregory McMichael’s attorney, Frank Hogue, was the next to offer his opening statement.

According to Hogue, the facts in the case for the most part will be “without dispute.”

“The why it happened is what this case is about,” said Hogue.

The attorney told the jury a similar version of some of the events leading up to the day of the shooting, as the previous defense counsel had. 

Hogue said that Gregory McMichael told him that when he and his son caught up with Arbery, “he was in abject fear that he is about to witness his only son possible shot and killed before his very eyes. “

Gregory McMichael told investigators after the shooting “my intention was to stop this guy so he could be arrested or be identified at the very least,” said Hogue.

Police officer William Duggan is the first witness called by the state in the trial of the three men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are on trial for the 2020 killing of Arbery in Georgia.

The jury is expected to see Duggan’s body camera footage from the day Arbery was killed.

Before Duggan took the stand, Judge Timothy Walmsley asked anyone who might have a reaction to potentially graphic body camera footage to the leave the gallery before the evidence is presented. 

Duggan has been with the Glynn County police department for 12 years, he said on the stand Friday afternoon.

Following a lunch break in the trial of Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan, some members of the jury shifted seating positions. 

Two members of the jury joined eleven other members of the panel who were already seated inside the jury box for the morning session of court. According to pool reports, that leaves two jurors sitting in the gallery.

Judge Timothy Walmsley said he was leaving it up to the jurors to decide if they would like to sit together inside the jury box.

Why not all the jurors are in the jury box: The trial is taking place with Covid-19 looming in the background. The trial jurors have been split up and are sitting in two different locations in the courtroom. 

When court began today, there were eleven jurors sitting socially distanced inside the jury box, leaving at least one of the participating jurors and three alternates seated on the right-side gallery with cubicle like shields positioned in the middle of the gallery aisle. 

There are other Covid-19 precautions inside the Brunswick courtroom, too. There is room for only a few family members to witness the proceedings. Both the jurors and those there to watch the trial are socially distanced, with some choosing to wear face masks.

A defense attorney for Travis McMichael, one of the three men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, just started the defense’s opening statement.

Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are charged with malice and felony murder in the 2020 killing.

The trial of the three men charged in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery has resumed following the court’s lunch break.

The defense team is expected to begin its opening statements.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are charged with malice and felony murder.

Arbery’s killing sparked national outrage after a video of his shooting was made public. The 25-year-old Black man was out for a jog in Brunswick when he was fatally shot.

Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of Ahmaud Arbery, listens as attorneys speak outside the Glynn County Courthouse on July 17, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia. 

Wanda Cooper-Jones, Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, said she decided to stay inside the courtroom while prosecutors played video of the shooting that killed her son because she wanted to “get familiar with what happened.”

Cooper-Jones said this was the first time that she had seen the video in its entirety, “I have avoided the video for the last 18 months … I was glad I was able to stay strong and stay in there,” she said. 

Pool reporters inside the courtroom reported an audible gasp and “an emotional cry” from Cooper-Jones when the video was being played during opening statements. 

Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, Sr., who was also in the courtroom at the start of court, left the room as the video played. He later returned.

Less than three hours into the first day of the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial in Brunswick, Georgia, the judge said he would not grant a mistrial after a defense attorney complained that a prosecutor inappropriately raised the issue of the time lapse between Arbery’s shooting and the arrest of the defendants in her opening statement.  

The discussion happened after the jury had been excused from the room, following lead prosecutor’s Linda Dunikoski opening arguments. 

After hearing from both the prosecution and the defense on the matter, Judge Timothy Walmsley said he would not grant a mistrial — although he had previously ruled that any mention of this period should not be made in front of the jury. 

Raising a second issue, Laura Hogue, one of Gregory McMichael’s defense asked the court to reconsider an order granting the state’s motion for a three-hour closing argument. According to Hogue, the state spent an hour and 35 minutes presenting opening arguments and the defense didn’t believe there was a reason for the prosecutor to be allowed to speak that long during closing. 

Rebutting Hogue’s request, the prosecutor pointed to how much time it took to explain all the evidence she expects to present during the trial. Dunikoski said she would need three hours for a closing argument.

The judge denied Hogue’s requests and said his ruling would stand before calling the jury back in and announcing a one-hour recess for lunch. Travis McMichael’s defense attorneys will begin presenting their opening statements after the break. 

The trial of the three men accused in the killing on Ahmaud Arbery is on another break — this time for lunch.

When court resumes, the defense is expected to begin its opening arguments.

Earlier today, the state laid out its opening argument. As part of the opening statement, the lead prosecutor played video from the day Arbery was shot and killed while he was out for a jog in Brunswick, Georgia, on Feb. 23, 2020.

The court took a short break after the state’s opening statement. The trial resumed briefly before breaking for lunch.

The trial of the three men charged in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery has resumed after a brief break.

Before the break, the state wrapped up its opening argument. As part of the opening statement, the lead prosecutor played video from the day Arbery was shot and killed while he was out for a jog in Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020.

The defense is expected to begin its opening argument later today.

The state has finished making its opening arguments in the trial for three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery. The court is now taking a break.

Lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski is presenting the state’s opening arguments in the trial for three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery. 

As part of the opening statement, she’s playing video from the day Arbery was shot and killed while he was out for a jog in Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020.

Video of Arbery’s death sparked national outrage last year when it was released in the months the shooting. In May 2020, a 36-second video was released showing Arbery jogging down the middle of a street toward a pickup truck stopped in the road. Gregory McMichael — one of the three men on trial — was seen in the bed of the truck while his son is standing near the driver’s side door with a shotgun.

Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, Sr., was seen leaving the courtroom as the video played, mumbling, “I don’t want to see this,” according to one of the pool reporters in the courtroom. 

Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, remained in her seat, with her attorney Lee Merritt sitting near her. She “lets out an emotional cry as the video plays with minimal audio,” said the pool reporter. 

Cooper-Jones was seen sobbing as her attorney tried to console her, the pool reporter added.  

Opening statements have begun in the murder trial for the men accused of Ahmaud Arbery. 

Lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski, a senior assistant district attorney from Cobb County, Georgia, began her opening statements by asking: “Why are we here?” She went on to lay out her case saying that all three defendants made decisions based on the assumptions. 

Dunikoski told the court she would present her opening statement in three parts:

Opening statements began at 9:50 a.m. ET this morning.

The probation status of Ahmaud Arbery will not be allowed to be heard by the jury in the trial of the the three men accused of killing the 25-year-old Black man, Judge Timothy Walmsley ruled Friday morning prior to swearing in the jury.

Attorneys representing Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael had filed a motion to introduce evidence related to Arbery’s probation status. In the filing, the defense argued that “while a person not on probation may not have been so concerned over answering questions about repeated nighttime intrusions into a home under construction, a person on active felony probation, who had waived his Fourth Amendment rights to search of his person and his home, and who can be imprisoned simply for having violated curfew, would be incredibly fearful of the ramifications of police interaction after such an unlawful entry.”  

The state countered in its own filing, saying Arbery’s “status as probationer is not relevant, as the defendants did not know Mr. Arbery was on probation. Further, it is not relevant to the defenses of ‘citizen’s arrest’ or self-defense.”

Earlier in the year, Walmsley denied the use of any evidence pertaining to Arbery’s prior brushes with the law.   

In a second ruling, the judge said photographs of Travis McMichael’s pickup truck featuring a vanity plate with the old Georgia flag that featured the Confederate battle flag will be allowed to be shown during court.  

“It is not character evidence, it is motive evidence,” prosecutor Linda Dunikoski argued to the court on Thursday. 

The three White men on trial – Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. – are accused of chasing down and killing Arbery, as he jogged on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla Shores neighborhood, just outside the city of Brunswick in Georgia’s lowcountry. 

The three men are charged with malice and felony murder and aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. All three men pleaded not guilty, with the McMichaels claiming they were conducting a citizen’s arrest and acting in self-defense and Bryan maintaining his innocence, saying he took no part in the killing. 

All three men have also been indicted on federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges. 

CNN’s Martin Savidge and Eric Fiegel contributed to this report 

People outside the Georgia courthouse where the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial is unfolding held a prayer vigil this morning.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. are charged with malice and felony murder in Arbery’s 2020 killing. The 25-year-old Black man was out for a jog in Brunswick when he was fatally shot.

Opening arguments should begin shortly.

Here’s a look at the vigil this morning:

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The jury just entered the courtroom for the start of the murder trial in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.

They were sworn in by Judge Timothy Walmsley, who said opening statements should begin soon.

About the jury: After a long and contentious jury selection process in a coastal Georgia county in preparation for the trial for Ahmaud Arbery’s killing, a panel of 12 people — consisting of one Black member and 11 White members — was chosen Wednesday.

The jury was selected after a two-and-a-half-week selection process that ended with prosecutors for the state accusing defense attorneys of disproportionately striking qualified Black jurors and basing some of their strikes on race.

Walmsley said the defense appeared to be discriminatory in selecting the jury but that the case could go forward.

In Glynn County, where the trial is taking place, more than 26% of the 85,000 residents are Black, and about 69% are White, according to 2019 data from the US Census Bureau.

Ahmaud Arbery

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., are on trial for the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.

Arbery was shot dead on Feb. 23, 2020, in a confrontation with the McMichaels in the neighborhood of Satilla Shores, outside the city of Brunswick in Georgia’s lowcountry.

Arbery was on a jog — something he was known to do, according to those who knew him — when the McMichaels grabbed their guns and pursued Arbery. Gregory McMichael, a former police officer and investigator in the local district attorney’s office, later told police Arbery and his son had struggled over his son’s shotgun, and that Travis McMichael shot Arbery after the latter attacked him, according to the initial police report.

Bryan had joined the pursuit and recorded the shooting on his cellphone.

Gregory McMichael told police he and his son had pursued Arbery because they suspected he was responsible for a string of recent purported burglaries in the neighborhood. A Glynn County Police spokesperson later said there had only been one burglary — a gun stolen from an unlocked vehicle in front of the McMichaels’ home — reported in more than seven weeks prior to the shooting.

Additionally, McMichael said he saw Arbery inside a home under construction. Arbery was seen entering the home in surveillance video at the site, but the owner of the home told CNN he did not see Arbery commit any crime other than “trespassing” the day of the shooting.

For months, the case lay dormant, and two prosecutors recused themselves due to conflicts of interest.

But in May, video taken by Bryan of the fatal interaction was made public, and the McMichaels were arrested days later. The three were all jointly indicted by a grand jury in June 2020.

At a preliminary hearing last June, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial testified Bryan told investigators he heard Travis McMichael use a racial epithet after shooting Arbery. McMichael had also used racial slurs numerous times on social media and on messaging services, Dial said.

Attorneys for the three defendants have said they acted in self-defense. But Dial testified the opposite was true.