Travis McMichael, the man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery, his father Greg McMichael and their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, who captured the killing on video, have all been convicted of murdering the black man.
A jury came out with a verdict on Wednesday, the second day of deliberations in the trial of the three white men charged with chasing and killing Arbery, 25, who was jogging through their Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood on February 23, 2020.
A nine-count indictment charged all three with one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Unlike many states, Georgia doesn’t have degrees of murder, but instead has malice murder and felony murder.
Malice murder is when a person ‘unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being,’ while felony murder is when someone who has no plans to kill intentionally commits another felony and a person dies as a result.
Travis McMichael was found guilty on all nine counts, including malice murder and felony murder. The jury found his father Greg McMichael not guilty of malice murder, but guilty on all other counts.
Their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan was found not guilty of malice murder and not guilty of one count of felony murder, but guilty of three counts of felony murder and three other charges.
‘Your oath requires that you will decide this case based on evidence,’ Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley told the predominantly white jury before sending the panel off to begin their deliberations.
Over the past two weeks, the jury made up of 11 white jurors and one black juror heard two drastically different retellings of the events in the racially-charged case.
Wednesday morning jurors returned to the courtroom to review the cellphone video taken by Roddie Bryan that captured Arbery being blasted with a shotgun on a residential street in coastal Georgia.
They requested both versions of the shooting video — the original and one that investigators enhanced to reduce shadows. Each was viewed three times.
Jurors also reviewed the 911 call one of the defendants made from the bed of a pickup truck about 30 seconds before the shooting.
The jurors spent about six hours deliberating on Tuesday before breaking to resume Wednesday.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael grabbed their guns and followed Arbery in a pickup truck after spotting the 25-year-old black man running in their neighborhood. Their neighbor William ‘Roddie’ Bryan joined, and recorded the incident on his cellphone.
Attorneys for Arbery’s family have called his death at the hands of the three white men a ‘modern-day lynching.’ Meanwhile, the McMichaels argue they were defending themselves while trying to conduct a citizens arrest because they suspected Arbery was fleeing a burglary.
The jury was left to decide what was justifiable under Georgia’s now-repealed citizen’s arrest law, which was outlawed following Arbery’s death.
The prosecution was given the final word because it carries the burden of proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt. On Tuesday they argued the three white men had no right to claim self-defense because they were the ones who provoked a confrontation with Arbery while he was running in their neighborhood.
‘You can’t claim self-defense if you are the unjustified aggressor,’ prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said. ‘Who started this? It wasn’t Ahmaud Arbery.’
Arbery’s killing became part of a larger national reckoning on racial injustice after a graphic video of his death leaked online two months later.
None of the men were charged in Arbery’s killing until the video taken by Roddie Bryan was leaked and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took the over the case from local police.
Dunikoski argued that the three men threatened Arbery both with their pickup trucks and by pointing a shotgun at him before the final confrontation in which Arbery threw punches and grabbed for the gun.
Prosecutors also maintain that there was no evidence Arbery had committed crimes in the defendant’s neighborhood. Dunikowski said he was never seen stealing anything the five times he was recorded by security cameras in an unfinished home under construction from which he was seen running.
‘You’ve got lumber, you’ve got all this stuff,’ Dunikoski said. ‘Mr. Arbery never shows up with a bag. He doesn’t pull up with a U-haul. … All he does is wander around for a few minutes and then leave.’
The prosecutor told jurors someone can only make a citizen’s arrest in ’emergency situations’ where a crime is happening ‘right then and there.’
Defense attorneys objected to her explanation, maintaining that the McMichaels had reason to suspect Arbery had stolen items from the home. The men said the home’s owner had security cameras installed and informed them of Arbery wandering on his property.
In their closings, the defense argued the McMichaels were attempting a legal citizen’s arrest, and only sought to detain and question Arbery.
Attorney Jason Sheffield said his client, Travis McMichael, fired his shotgun in self-defense after Arbery charged at him, threw punches and tried to grab the weapon. Sheffield called Arbery’s death a tragedy, but one that was his own fault.
Earlier in the trial Travis McMichael took the the stand and acknowledged Arbery didn’t pull out a weapon or threaten him during their confrontation. Crying, Travis McMichael claimed it was a ‘life or death’ situation when Arbery grabbed at his gun, and in that moment he thought of his son.
Attorneys for the other two defendants blamed Arbery for his own death as well.
Laura Hogue, an attorney for Greg McMichael, said Arbery ‘chose to fight.’ While Kevin Gough, who represents Bryan, questioned why Arbery didn’t call for help if he was in danger.
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