Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski issued her rebuttal early Tuesday, insisting the jury that Arbery was not charged and that the defendants told police they did not know what crime he had committed. She had nearly two hours left after presenting the first part of her closing arguments to defense attorneys.
Dunikoski embraces the defense that the McMichaels are scared — and Glynn County, Georgia’s Satilla Shores neighborhood, has lived in fear — because of crime in the area. She said the armed men’s decision to chase Arbery for five minutes in their van was proof that they were fearless.
They had alternatives — including never chasing Arbery or calling the police — but instead choosing to go after Arbery even if he repeatedly eluded them, Dunikoski said. They performed the more egregious assault with their truck — and the McMichaels, with their guns — while falsely attempting to detain Arbery, she said. In the process of committing these felonies, Dunikoski said, they killed Arbery.
“If you take it out will he still be alive?” she asked the jury. “It’s really simple. The answer is you can’t commit any of these crimes. If you commit any of the crimes they’ve committed and he’s still alive. All both fundamental felonies played an important and necessary role in causing Ahmaud Arbery’s death.”
The claims that they are protecting their neighborhood seem fake, Dunikoski said, when you consider the property owner has never charged Arbery with any crime – other than trespassing on the property without incident. incident – and nothing had been stolen there in the months before Arbery’s fatal shooting. . Dunikoski also said the defendants could not defend themselves when Arbery, unarmed and on foot, tried to evade three men, two of whom were armed, chasing him in a pair of semi-trucks. load in 5 minutes.
She asked the jury: Why, if this is about preventing crime, McMichaels never mentions a specific crime or the arrest of a citizen to police at the scene?
Following Dunikoski’s rebuttal, Judge Timothy Walmsley issued instructions to jurors and said that, for Bryan, he authorized them to consider simple assault, reckless behavior or reckless driving. in lieu of heavier assault with a truck. The jury, consisting of nine white women, two white men, and one black man (with two white women and one white man instead), began deliberation shortly thereafter. .
The jury spent more than six hours deliberating on the first day. Walmsley checked the jurors twice to see if a verdict was imminent, with the foreman reporting that they had not yet returned a verdict. The jury told the judge that they considered continuing the deliberation in the evening, but ultimately decided to dismiss it. Court adjourned at around 6:30 p.m. ET, and the second day of deliberations will begin Wednesday at 8 a.m.
The judge rejected the motion because it was wrong
Travis McMichael testified that he had never seen Arbery armed, never heard Arbery threaten him, and that Arbery had shown no interest in conversing with McMichael.
Dunikoski said the men acted on “driving assumptions and decisions,” and they were not immediately aware that Arbery had committed the crime, a key factor in claiming the citizen’s arrest.
Defending a mistake, said Dunkioski misrepresented the state’s now-defunct citizen arrest law. Walmsley denied the offer.
The men have pleaded not guilty. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Family opposes defense attorney’s opinion
“The victimization of Ahmaud Arbery after the choices he made does not reflect the reality of what brought Ahmaud Arbery to Satilla Shores in khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long and dirty toenails. there,” Hogue said.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, nearly tripped as she left the courtroom, saying, “I have to get out of here.”
Arbery was never charged with any crime in the neighborhood. The property owner never said Arbery committed a crime, only that he was caught by on-scene cameras.
Racing has been a major focus. Arbery was black, and 11 of the 12 jurors were white. Ben Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father, suggested that race played a role in the murder.
“They had dozens of other people visiting the house. No one chased them. No one said they stole the house. Why is that?” Crump asked Monday.
That is an important point to Dunikoski’s rebuttal. Arbery had been to the building under construction many times, she said, but he had never stolen anything.
Responding to suggestions Arbery could be responsible for items stolen from a boat in 2019, Dunikoski noted that property owner Larry English told police he did not knows who stole the items, the items may have been stolen at another location and he suspects subcontractors may be responsible.
Video from December 2020, showing Arbery indoors looking around and seeing nothing, seems to provide a rebuttal to the argument Arbery was never known to run in the Satilla Shores. In the video, Arbery walks out of the house empty-handed into the street and into a jog, disappearing from sight as he runs down Satilla Drive.
“What is Mr. Arbery doing? More importantly, what is Mr. Arbery not doing?” she asked the judges to refer to the video.
Dunikoski says if Arbery commits a crime it is an offense, or possibly snooping or loitering, all misdemeanors – not meeting the prerequisites for arresting citizens. McMichaels told police they didn’t know if Arbery was in English’s home, she reminded jurors.
“If (McMichaels and Bryan) doesn’t proceed to arrest a legitimate citizen, you don’t need to consider … self-defense because if it’s not a legal citizen arrest – that they are trespassers first illegitimate strategy and they have committed a felony against Mr. Arbery, and therefore have no right to defend themselves.”
In the jury instructions, Walmsley told jurors in the arrest of a citizen, the person making the arrest must witness the crime with her own senses or the perpetrator must admit crime. It is not lawful to arrest a citizen based solely on “unsupported testimony of others” and the person making the arrest – after committing a crime, or in the case of a felony, while on the run – must exactly the instant arrest. , the judge said.
Lawyer: Defendant only defended the neighborhood
“Travis McMichael has spent nearly a decade of his life learning about duty and responsibility,” his attorney Jason Sheffield said Monday, referring to McMichael’s time in the United States Coast Guard. Ky. “He is highly trained in how to make decisions that will ultimately impact his beliefs.”
Dunikoski countered Travis McMichael failed to follow his training and failed to follow de-escalation techniques when he fired Arbery – his armed father was cursing Arbery from his truck bed – and then left his truck with a shotgun.
“These are real experiences with people who were really scared, and so they did something on their own – get cameras, call the police, notify each other, watch citizens,” he said. , monitoring of residential areas”.
Hogue told the jury that they only needed to consider two questions.
“Greg McMichael has reasonable and probable grounds of doubt to believe that Ahmaud Arbery committed a burglary … and he has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that Ahmaud Arbery is quitting. hiding or trying to escape again?” she speaks.
“He didn’t know and couldn’t have known that Arbery was going to be shot. Until then, sadly, there was nothing Roddie Bryan could do to prevent this tragedy. He didn’t shoot anyone. At the time of the incident. opened fire, he had Gough said.
“Ladies and gentlemen, without Roddie Bryan, there are no cases,” he said.
In his epilogue, Dunikoski emphasizes that everyone has a responsibility. Since all three men committed felonies before Travis McMichael shot Arbery, they were all parties to the crime, she said.
“By law in Georgia, it’s like they’re holding a gun,” she said.
CNN’s Alta Spells, Travis Caldwell, Angela Barajas, Martin Savidge, Jade Gordon, Theresa Waldrop and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.
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