A mural
of
Ahmaud
Arbery
is
painted
on the
side of
The
Brunswick
African
American
Cultural
Center
in
downtown
Brunswick,
Georgia,
U.S.
October
19,
2021.
(REUTERS/Octavio
Jones) |
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FILE -
This
combination
of
booking
photos
provided
by the
Glynn
County,
Ga.,
Detention
Center,
shows,
from
left,
Travis
McMichael,
his
father,
Gregory
McMichael,
and
William
"Roddie"
Bryan
Jr. On
Friday,
Oct. 1,
2021, a
Georgia
judge
has
ruled
that
Ahmaud
Arbery's
mental
health
records
can't be
used as
trial
evidence
by the
men who
chased
and
killed
him.
(Glynn
County
Detention
Center
via AP,
File) |
|
Viral
video,
opinions
challenge
Georgia
jury
selection
for
Arbery
case
Oct
22
(Reuters)
- A
Georgia
court
struggled
this
week to
seat
jurors
in the
trial of
three
white
men
accused
of
murdering
Black
jogger
Ahmaud
Arbery,
underscoring
the
challenge
of
finding
people
who have
not
formed
firm
opinions
based on
a viral
video of
the
shooting.
“I
saw the
news
footage
and I
saw the
video
footage
of the
crime,
and I’ve
already
formed a
guilty
opinion
of the
crime,"
one
woman
told the
court
earlier
this
week.
Arbery's
killing
just
outside
the
coastal
city of
Brunswick,
Georgia,
in
February
2020
stoked
national
outrage
and
protests
after
the
cellphone
video
taken by
one of
the
three
defendants
went
viral.
Defense
lawyers
and
prosecutors
say they
are not
looking
for
jurors
who have
not seen
the
video or
don't
know
about
the
case.
Rather,
they are
trying
to
determine
whether
potential
jurors
can set
aside
any
opinions
they
have and
make a
decision
based on
evidence
presented
to the
court.
Former
policeman
Gregory
McMichael,
65; his
son
Travis
McMichael,
35; and
neighbor
William
"Roddie"
Bryan,
52, face
charges
of
murder,
aggravated
assault
and
false
imprisonment.
If
convicted
on all
charges,
they
could
draw a
maximum
sentence
of life
in
prison.
Superior
Court
Judge
Timothy
Walmsley
told
prosecutors
and
defense
attorneys
to speed
things
up. "I
am not
comfortable
with
this,"
he said
of the
pace on
the
first
day of
jury
selection
on
Monday.
As
of late
Thursday
night,
out of
80 Glynn
County
residents
interviewed,
only 23
residents
had been
prequalified
for a
group of
64, from
which
the
ultimate
12
jurors
and four
alternates
will be
selected
to hear
the
case.
Walsley
said on
Thursday
that
selection
could
take
well
into
next
week or
possibly
the week
after.
The
court
was not
in
session
on
Friday;
jury
selection
is
slated
to
resume
on
Monday.
CITIZEN'S
ARREST
DEFENSE
Defense
attorneys
have
said in
interviews
that
they
plan to
base
their
case
largely
on a
now-defunct
version
of a
"citizen's
arrest"
law that
allows
people
in the
state to
detain
someone
they
suspect
of a
crime.
The
three
defendants
told
police
they
thought
Arbery
was a
burglar
and the
shooting
was in
self-defense
after
Arbery
grappled
with a
shotgun
leveled
by
Travis
McMichael.
Arbery,
an avid
runner
and
former
high
school
football
star,
was shot
three
times
and fell
on the
street
in the
suburban
neighborhood.
One
potential
juror
was
dismissed
because
he
watched
the
video
more
than six
times
and told
the
court he
thought
the men
were
"guilty.
They
killed
him.
They did
it as a
team."
Another
said,
“The
only
time
I’ve
heard of
citizen’s
arrest
is in
'The
Andy
Griffith
show',”
the
1960s TV
comedy
about a
small-town
sheriff.
The
man
added
that he
would
listen
to both
sides in
the
case.
"Everyone
deserves
their
day in
court.
It’s the
foundation
of our
country,
it’s the
rule of
law.”
Of
the 80
people
brought
to court
through
Thursday,
a few
said
they had
seen
only
clips
from the
video,
and only
two
people
told the
court
they
hadn't
seen it.
“I
didn’t
want to
see
somebody
killed,"
said one
man in
his 70s.
Chris
Slobogin,
a
Vanderbilt
University
law
professor,
said
picking
fair
juries
is
harder
in the
days of
cellphones
and
social
media.
"I
mean,
everyone's
seen
this
video,"
he said.
"I
believe
the
judge
will
eventually
find 12
jurors,
but the
work is
to
figure
out if a
person
is being
forthright
when
they say
they can
set
aside
what
they
saw."
A
nurse
told the
court
that she
had
thought
hard
about
whether
she
could be
a fair,
impartial
juror
and
"prayed
about
it."
“I
feel
firmly
that I
could do
that,"
she
said.
Another
potential
juror, a
retired
auto
shop
owner,
said it
would be
hard to
disregard
the
video.
"Some
things
you just
can't
unsee,"
he said.
Reporting
by Rich
McKay in
Atlanta;
Additional
reporting
by
Jonathan
Allen in
New
York;
Editing
by
Jonathan
Oatis
Our
Standards:
The
Thomson
Reuters
Trust
Principles.
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