The man who shot Ahmaud Arbery has testified that he was “alive or dead.” Court News

The man who shot Ahmaud Arbery testified Wednesday that Arbery assaulted him and took his shotgun, following him and his father of a 25-year-old black man in a mostly white neighborhood in the U.S. state of Georgia.

Travis McMichael’s testimony came when defense attorneys opened their case at the murder trial of three white men accused of killing Arbery, based on arguments that their clients were legally trying to stop robberies in their neighborhood.

Asked why his lawyer shot Arbery, McMichael replied, “He had my gun. He hit me. It was obvious he was attacking me, if he got a shotgun, it was a dead or alive situation, and I’ll have to stop doing that, I shot him. ».

McMichael said he believed Ahmaud Arbery was a thief when he shot dead a man who was out for a run on Sunday.

McMichael’s stance in his defense could be a dangerous maneuver that opens up prosecutors to question McMichael’s evidence that he could have been a “race animus” to the Blacks.

McMichael, 35, his 65-year-old father Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are 52. accused of murder, a more serious assault and false imprisonment in the case. Three men, white, are sentenced to life in prison if convicted of murder and he pleaded not guilty.

“I want to give my side of the story,” McMichael said.

The notorious trial has taken on special significance as the U.S. struggles with racial justice issues following the 2020 protests and civil unrest that shook the country. The murder of George Floyd, a black man, a white police officer in Minneapolis.

The three men chased Arbery in a truck on Feb. 23, 2020, before young McMichael fired his shotgun three times at close range as Arbery ran up to him and grabbed his gun. McMichael claims to have fired in self-defense.

The The prosecution suspended his case After testifying for eight days on 23 witnesses on Tuesday. Defense attorneys have argued that the defendants believed Arbery, 25, could have committed a crime in pursuit of him and were trying to arrest a lawful citizen.

McMichael, 35, said the robberies took place in Satilla Shores, on his outskirts of the small Georgian town on the Brunswick coast, which put neighbors in jeopardy.

He recalled a previous encounter with Arbery on the night of February 11, 2020, less than two weeks before the shooting that killed Arbery.

That night, he said, he saw Arbery outside the unoccupied neighborhood and outside a half-built house. The prosecutor said Arbery was an avid runner for his regular run.

McMichael said Arbery was “walking through the shadows” and then seemed to put his hand in the waistband or pocket of his shorts.

“It scared me,” he said. “I think he’s armed.” He ran home to pick up the gun and called the police, but Arbery was missing by then.

McMichael testified that he believed Arbery, the owner of the half-built house, had stolen the missing fishing equipment and was returning on Feb. 11 to take more things.

There is no evidence that Arbery took anything from the house.

The owner of the property had previously said that through a lawyer he could stop at the Arbery site to drink from a water tap. Arbery had nothing but running clothes and shoes to run on the day he was shot.

McMichael described his law enforcement training during his nine years as a U.S. Coast Guard mechanic.

Speaking calmly and often addressing jurors directly, Reuters news agency reported, McMichael said he had the power to arrest and use force and was in need of a reasonable suspicion of a crime.

Although he never used physical force in Coast Guard duties, he said he was taught that pointing a gun at someone could be used to de-escalate a situation.

“When you throw a gun at someone, since I’ve learned in my training, you usually tell people to back off” and obey orders, he told the jury.

The prosecutor says the defendants unjustly assumed the worst of a black man to run on Sunday, and that none of the defendants were working as law enforcement agents when they chased Arbery.

Bryan recorded the video on the cell phone that killed Arbery Travis McMichael. The video caused outrage when it was released more than two months later.

Supreme Court Judge Timothy Walmsley denied the request for a ban on defense attorneys from the famous civil rights chief, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other prominent visitors.

Jackson sat with Arbery’s parents on Wednesday in the back row of the court for the second time this week. Defendants’ attorneys argued that the presence of Jackson and others who spoke about racial injustice could unfairly affect the jury.