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Three white men reported the murder Ahmaud Arbery “Because he was a black man running down their street,” only a U.S. prosecutor continued, as they gave their final arguments in the politically charged trial on Monday.
Gregory McMichael, 65, had his son Travis McMichael, 35, and neighbor William Bryan, 52, he pleaded not guilty including murder, more serious assault and false imprisonment.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikski told the judge accused he mistakenly “assumed the worst” about 25-year-old Arbery.
“They decided to attack Ahmaud Arbery because he was a black man running down the street,” he said Monday.
Arberyrena to die last year He became part of a larger narrative of racial injustice in the country in the U.S. state of Georgia after a graphic video of his death leaked online two months later.
An avid jogger, Was traveling through a neighborhood in Brunswick on February 23, 2020, in a coastal community 480 km (300 miles) southeast of Atlanta, when defendants chased and shot him.
Arbery didn’t even have a cell phone, Dunikoski said. Defendants were killed “not because it was a threat to them, because he didn’t stop and talk to them,” he said.
Defense attorneys they argued that the three men had stolen a house Arbery was building and intended to seize it until police arrived.
Security cameras recorded Arbery inside the house five times until October 2019 and he was killed. None of the videos showed Arbery stealing or damaging anything.
The prosecutor did not argue that racism prompted the murder. However, U.S. federal authorities charged the three defendants with hate crimes, alleging that Black was behind Arbery and killed him.
Travis McMichael was the only defendant to take the stand. He testified that his shotgun was fired at close range in Arbery’s defense. He told the shooting that it was the most traumatic event of his life.
Travis McMichael also said Arbery was caught with his gun in a five-minute harassment in most of the white neighborhoods of Satilla Shores, Georgia on Feb. 23, 2020.
In his final argument, Jason Sheffield, one of them McMichael’s lawyers, McMichael noted the law enforcement training he received in the U.S. Coast Guard for nine years, where he worked as a mechanic.
Sheffield showed the jury the excerpts from the video of the highly-watched mobile phone Bryank (neighbor) shot, freezing as Arbery headed towards Travis McMichael, who had just aimed his shotgun at Arbery.
“There’s no doubt that Ahmaud’s hands are on this gun,” Sheffield said, arguing that McMichael was afraid for his life at the time.
Citizen arrest
Sheffield said its customers did no intention Kill Arbery to defend himself until he is forced to make a decision to die or live.
He said residents of Satilla Shores were nervous amidst the robbery in the neighborhood and news of suspicious people as Arbery was caught on camera at an unfinished home.
The defense attorney Arbery called it “a repeat, a temporary one that comes at a time when there is no legal reason to be there.” Attempting to arrest a citizen is perfectly legal in Georgia, Sheffield added.
Sheffield said Arbery’s frequent visits to the site made it reasonable to suspect that the owner of the house had stolen things from a boat stored in a doorless garage shortly after installing the cameras.
Sheffield, Travis McMichael, said of his “terrifying experience,” he said, “When he met Arbery in the yard 12 days before the shooting.
“He’s committed a crime, and he knows it,” Sheffield said. “He saw everything that was not his hand on the stolen equipment.”
Prosecutor Dunikoski said McMichael was the initial attacker.
They and Bryan followed Arbery for five minutes, using trucks to cut him off to escape from the road and otherwise prevent him from escaping after being seen in their neighborhood, he said.
Gregory McMichael repeated the words to local police after the shooting, saying Arbery was “caught like a rat.”
Dunikoski stated that Arbery never threatened to chase McMichael; he did not carry a weapon. “You can’t carry a gun to a fist. It’s unfair, isn’t it? ” said the prosecutor.
He said it was Travis McMichael who attacked Arbery, first with his truck, then pointing a shotgun at him, while Arbery ran towards him. “They can’t claim self-defense under the law because they were initial attackers and unjust,” Dunikoski said, “and they started this.”
The final arguments of the trial arrived a few days later Kyle Rittenhouse’s acquittal in another case seen up close.
Rittenhouse, 18, was shot dead by two men last year in protests and riots against Wisconsin police brutality. He he proclaimed self-defense and acquitted of all charges on Friday.
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