Welcome back to our ongoing coverage of the Ahmaud Arbery case, with what we expect to be day two of general jury selection for the trial of Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William “Roddy” Bryan on murder and other charges over the death of Ahmaud Arbery on February 23, 2020.
General jury selection began yesterday, in which jurors are asked “hand-raising” questions in groups of 20 as part of an initial screening. Although portions were broadcast for most of the selection process there was no audio–making observation of the selection proceedings broadcast rather uninformative.
This morning, however, local journalists physically present are reporting that so far 12 prospective jurors have been dismissed through the general jury selection process. In total, 1,000 local Glynn County residents have been notified that they are prospective jurors in this case, with 600 of those ordered to report yesterday, and the first group of 20 prospective jurors were subject to general selection yesterday afternoon.
All jurors have already filled out and returned an initial 3-page juror questionnaire, and in general jury selection are being subject to additional questions prepared separately by prosecutors and the defense attorneys, and were approved yesterday by Judge Walmsley.
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Attorney Andrew F. Branca
Law of Self Defense LLC
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Comments
Is there anyone who believes the defendants will get a fair trial?
At least as fair as the trial that Arbery got in the court of Judge Travis McMichael.
So you must have not seen the cellphone video which shows clear as day that Arbery was not only the aggressor and attacker, he also began to to turn down a side street but then turned back to attack Travis.
The video where Arbery gets shot in the chest, attempts to flee, gets about 5 or 6 feet and collapses, mortally wounded, onto a public street? The same video where Travis refers to Arbery as a f’n nword?
I can imagine the fear that Arbery must have felt from having two pickup trucks chasing him before being confronted by a distinguished looking Bubba with a shotgun, blocking his path to get away from them and another one in the bed of the truck covering him.
Big Bubba and Little Bubba just wanna “have a word” with you. Little Bubba managed to have the last word(s) and those words spoke the content of his character.
Like I said, you must not have seen the video because your characterization does not appear anywhere in the video.
You said “I can imagine the fear that Arbery must have felt from having two pickup trucks chasing him”
Uhhhhh…. the video show the McMichael’s truck is IN FRONT OF ARBERY a substantial distance and at a full stop.
Not sure how this qualifies as “chasing” in your deluded mind.
You probably still believe the “out for a jog” nonsense even though we have surveillance video that conclusively proves Arbery was NEVER jogging at all.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylOEBqHXOVQ&t=3s
You kind of forgot to mention that Travis uttered the N-bomb after Arbery had just repeatedly pummeled him in the head on video.
“You kind of forgot to mention that Travis uttered the N-bomb after Arbery had just repeatedly pummeled him in the head on video.” Where’s the actual evidence of this?
In other words you object to the idea of a fair trial in this case?
Try grabbing my gun away from me and see what happens
I have no need for your “gun” nor any expectation of ever knowing who you are. You’re not a vigilante, are you?
Right, you fend off attacker by hitting them with your purse.
@NotKennedy – You are arguing with idiots when you respond to the usual suspects here. I suspect you would not get to triple digits of IQ if you added all their IQ scores together.
In other words you object to the idea of a fair trial in this case?
They will be claiming self defense. That Arbery attacked Travis and tried to take his weapon. If all true (and meet req die self defense) the. It would have been Arbery’s decision to attack that caused him to be shot and killed
Looks more like three vigilantes set up an ambush than a fortified self defense check point.
Arbery ran to the gun. Did he have agency?
What is an agency? Arbery engaged with Travis McMichael, the man holding a shotgun on him, the same man who discharged that same shotgun three times with two of those discharges into Arbery’s chest. Arbery was attempting to defend himself from the assault mounted by Travis and Greg McMichael.
Running down a road is not a crime. Moreover, Arbery had no reason to submit himself to armed strangers who are chasing him.
The three defendants sought confrontation and at least two of them sought armed confrontation.
We have video proving Arbery was not “just runnning down the road”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylOEBqHXOVQ&t=5s
He had just been on property – house under construction — that he didn’t belong on. Wel known in the town for being a thief.. and was on probation at the time they tried to do a citizens arrest which at the time was legal
Did you know that a shotgun can kill someone at greater than punching distance? I wonder if Travis McMichael knew that.
Strange that you take a position that 1. Has no evidence to support it and 2. Is contradicted by all known evidence.
How much evidence can be included as evidence, a corpse, a murder weapon, expired shell casings, statements made to law enforcement,
a pickup truck, video and, reportedly, eye witnesses? What evidence did Arbery bring to the murder scene?
I do not doubt that Arbery may have been a burglar or a thief… or a transmission mechanic, or whatever else was in his life. Being shot in the street, like a rabid animal, for suspicion of crimes against property is greatly disproportionate.
There is more than one villain in this story but only of them is dead.
There is a reason why we have law enforcement, judicial systems, correctional systems, insurance and codified procedures to maintain some civility in human affairs.
He wasn’t shot for being a suspected anything. He was shot for trying to take a shotgun away from an armed man.
In that moment, however unjust, purposeful compliance was likely a better choice than launching an attack from 10 feet away on an armed man of uncertain intent with no distraction.
But, as we know (though the jury will not hear) he was off his psych meds and high when he made that decision, so…
Had Travis McMichael not introduced his shotgun into the confrontation no one would have been shot with a shotgun. Travis and his father left their domicile to pursue and engage with an unarmed Arbery. on a public street. To my view, Travis McMichael is the assailant and it was his reckless endangerment that caused Arbery to be in fear for his life.
That Greg McMichael brought a pistol, to my view, implies that he expected an armed confrontation.
What was the urgency? Arbery was, evidently, known within some of the community. He would have been easy enough to follow, he was on foot.
This was a matter for law enforcement, not a gang of vigilantes, brandishing shotguns and acting with malice.
In Texas, you can get away with this kind of stuff. Georgia remains to be seen.
It is indisputable that Travis did not fire until LONG AFTER Arbery had begun punching Travis in the head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utj5TmHQdg8
“It is indisputable that Travis did not fire until LONG AFTER Arbery had begun punching Travis in the head.”
JD… there is NO evidence, nothing in the video that shows Arbery touching Travis before Travis shot him in the chest. The first shotgun blast to the victims chest occurred in front of the truck, out of view of Roddie’s camera.
Arbery had already been shot by Travis, twice, before he attempted to strike Travis with his right hand.
Indisputable? Dan Rather could not have said it better though he preferred to “unimpeachable” to indisputable. At least Dan Rather didn’t kill anyone, only his and Mary Mapes’ careers. Hell, that may have been Dan’s finest moment, short of meeting Kenneth.
Bless, we have a true believer here 🤣🤣
Well considering that we have video proving that not a single shot was fired until AFTER Arbery had been pummeling Travis in the head………….
You have already devolved into ad hominem beyond any reason to expect a civil dialogue. I had previously thought better of you.
Yawn. That is your dodge to being called out for missating the evidence?
Arbery is not on trial. kak185ttx makes reference to video of Arbery being on private property…. many people were on that same property:
“As attention to Arbery’s death ramped up, details about his trespassing of the property became public. The owner of the home said that while Arbery was caught on surveillance camera two months prior to his death at the empty home, he was likely just getting some water. And he wasn’t the only person to stop by. At least 11 other videos dated between October 2019 and February 2020 show women, men, and children there too, according to…:” CNN
The case that jurors will have to decide is specific to the death by shooting of Arbery and the involvement of the named defendants.
As it were, OJ was not guilty and Bill Cosby is no longer in jail, he’s trying work up a new comedy show, and George Zimmerman is still worthy of a community service award from Sanford, Fl, the State of Florida and appreciation of everyone who never had to deal with Trayvon.
Too bad someone cannot indict the State of Georgia for inflicting Arbery against society. Maybe they will show Travis McMichael more courtesy than he deserves but, irrespective, the federal government is coming after him, otherwise.
Maybe the homeowner put out a saucer of milk for arbery.
“It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt”
― Mark Twain
Seems like good advice; you should take it!
Yes he is. The questions for the jury to decide are 1. Did Arbery’s action give the defendnats sufficient basis to believe he had just commited and crime and 2. Did Arbery’s attack on Travis provide sufficient justification for the use of deadly force.
The State of Georgia and the federal government do not concur.
Is there such a theory that might compel disinterested third parties to estimate or evaluate some basis by which to distinguish whether they should intercede on behalf of unidentified beneficiaries?
Suppose that there were some imaginary “basis” to support their notion that a crime may have been committed but they elected to do nothing about it? Would the unidentified beneficiary have a causable complaint against them for failure to take action or otherwise prevent a “crime”?
Is there any evidence that Arbery actually stole something from the referenced property?
Arbery is the victim of the assault and his response to that assault was the element of self defense. Had Travis not “brandished” his shotgun then Arbery would have had no reason to respond.
As to your earlier indictment that I had not seen the “clear as day” video that conflicts or discomports with my view of the engagement? Evidently, I have not seen it because it does not exist.
Scarface was a great movie, I loved the opening scene with the chainsaw routine but, in the redux, you see nothing that your imagination did not provide. Similarly with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre–ah heck, that is a classic of low budget creativity!
In the matter of low budget “creativity”, the McMichael’s and their specious filmmaker friend have plundered a new level of southern decadence that “provides sufficient justification” for why stereotypes persist.
“I loved the opening scene with the chainsaw routine”
Good Lord, you even got “Scarface” wrong.
It’s obvious that few on this board should ever serve on a jury. Many have already tried and convicted Ahmaud Arbery for being the one at fault here.
There are people like Juris Doctor, Char Char Binks, Colonel Travis, and kak185ttx who have not even looked at the evidence that was provided in the pretrial hearing and automatically judged Ahmaud Arbery as the one who attacked first.
First and foremost, look at the entire video in ultra slow motion and at the highest resolution you can. You will see that as Ahmaud Arbery runs toward the truck, you can see Travis raise his shotgun at Arbery. At the time Travis raises his shotgun, he is beside the driver’s door of the pickup truck.
This is without any shadow of a doubt, proof that Travis Mcmichael initiated a deadly force threat against Ahmaud Arbery. As Andrew Branca says, if you’re the initial aggressor, you lose the element of innocence therefore you lose the right to self-defense. This was brought up by the prosecution in the pretrial hearing.
Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Richard Dial said “You see Travis McMichael’s truck is parked in the road. Travis McMichael, the driver’s side door is open, Travis McMichael is there. It is apparent to me he is holding a firearm. His arm is raised as it’s in a pointed position.”
At this point, both Ahmaud and the driver who is taking the video (Roddy) immediately veer to the right. When I first viewed this video I found it really strange why both Ahmaud and Roddy veered sharply to the right.
Slowly step through the frames and you will see Ahmaud going to the right immediately after Travis points the shotgun at him.
Travis instigated a deadly force threat to Ahmaud Arbery. He loses the element of innocence and therefore loses the right to self-defense.
Furthermore, Andrew Branca has seen the video and he has heard/read the testimony of Richard Dial and he has yet to respond to Richard’s testimony of Travis raising his shotgun at Ahmaud Arbery. Andrew is conveniently ignoring this important evidence. Furthermore, previous to raising his shotgun, both Travis and Roddy tried to ‘pin in’ Ahmaud with their vehicles and there is evidence that Ahmaud was struck by one of the vehicles.
Shame on the people here drawing conclusions without hearing all the evidence. Also shame on Andrew Branca for conveniently ignoring evidence that Ahamud was the victim of a deadly force threat to which Ahmaud is allowed to respond to.
“Furthermore, Andrew Branca has seen the video and he has heard/read the testimony of Richard Dial and he has yet to respond to Richard’s testimony of Travis raising his shotgun at Ahmaud Arbery.”
I’ve responded to your “point” every time you bring it up in varied forums using different user names. First, a doctored video is not evidence. Second, I’ve viewed the doctored video and I don’t see Travis pointing the shotgun at Arbery. Third, even if Travis were pointing the shotgun at Arbery, at that point Arbery is already charging at Travis and pointing the shotgun would only be a reasonable act in self-defense.
But you’ve read all that before when I’ve responded to you previously–you just like the attention, I guess.
Here is the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIve50vSeLQ&ab_channel=AtlantaJournal-Constitution
Take a look at it with 0.25 speed and at 1440p60 resolution. Between 0.07s and 0.08 seconds, you will see Travis raise and point the shotgun at Ahmaud Arbery. If you have better video editing software as I have, you can zoom in and see the rifle being raised.
At this point, Travis is beside the driver’s door. Travis has initiated the deadly force threat by stopping in front of Ahmaud, getting out of the vehicle and then pointing a shotgun at Ahmaud.
Ahmaud is running down the street, and at no point is Ahmaud charging.
Furthermore, you are not even addressing the fact that Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Richard Dial has said the shotgun is being pointed at Ahmaud. Is Special Agent Dial lying? What about hitting Ahmaud with a vehicle? Is Special Agent Dial lying about that too? If you hit someone with a vehicle is that a deadly force threat?
My question is when will you acknowledge the facts of this case that are being brought up by the prosecution?
“Furthermore, you are not even addressing the fact that Georgia Bureau of Investigations Special Agent Richard Dial has said the shotgun is being pointed at Ahmaud”
Also not evidence. That’s merely his opinion. As the saying goes, everybody has one.
I doubt even Dial believes it.
“My question is when will you acknowledge the facts of this case that are being brought up by the prosecution?”
When the prosecution actually brings them up at trial, or the evidence is otherwise demonstrably presented? Prosecutors often make wild claims prior to trial about all kinds of “evidence” they have–only to never have that evidence actually appear at trial Because it’s hearsay, or otherwise inadmissible. Because it never actually existed in the first place. All kinds of reasons. Talk is cheap. Evidence is worth considering. When you have some evidence, let me know. Doctored videos and other people’s opinions are not evidence.
If Travis walked to the front of the passenger side of the truck to shoot arbery, who at the time was running in a trajectory along the driver side, why did he take his first shot after backpedaling to the middle of the opposite lane?
Did Travis walk to the front of the passenger side of the truck?
The video shows him standing beside the driver side door, shotgun in hand.
Mr. Wingmaster and Mr. Magnum chased Arbery down a public street, attempted to arrest him, he resisted, and Travis McMichael shot him, three times, point black, killed him dead and then called him “the nword”.
Who was it that offered up the video to the media? That wisdom, of itself, speaks to the mind set of righteous indignation.
Presuming a defendant not guilty should be a reason to be struck from a jury? How queer!
If Travis McMichael wanted to murder arbery, why did he wait so long to shoot? Maybe he took heed of the famous Bunker Hill command, “Don’t fire until they grab your gun and punch you in the face!”
If Travis didn’t intent to shoot Arbery he and Greg would not have brought guns.
Right, everyone who carries a gun should be charged with attempted murder.
The Biden regime may have provide some opportunity for those with that kind of reasoning.
Presumption of Innocence:
A principle that requires the government to prove the guilt of a criminal defendant and relieves the defendant of any burden to prove his or her innocence.
Indeed, and also a requirement for every juror until deliberations start. I was once on a jury, and that was my mindset throughout the trial, which actually ended with the state dropping charges immediately before we could start deliberations.
In response to Mr. Branca’s question of where is the evidence of Travis using a racial slur after the shooting?
It is in Roddy Bryant’s statement to law enforcement.
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/04/869938461/white-defendant-allegedly-used-racial-slur-after-killing-ahmaud-arbery
That’s not evidence, that’s hearsay.
No it isn’t. It falls under the exception for statement of a co-conspirator.
A conspirator who never communicated with the others prior, and who was largely unknown to them. They may have recognized each other as neighbors, but it seems that they didn’t know each other by name.
Also falls under the non-hearsay party admission rule.
its also an excited utterance or present sense impression
It’s also not proven to have happened, and not yet admitted into evidence.
A pretrial statement is not evidence. Testimony given during a trial becomes evidence.
After being charged in the murder of Arbery, Roddy may not be as helpful to the prosecution. OTOH, there are, reportedly, abundant instances of Travis expounding upon the content of his own character. Text messages, email, social media posts.
Bryan was charged to keep him from testifying in court.
From what I’ve read about the local DA’s office and police department, that’s probably true.
False. Witnesses are impeached with evidence of pre trial statements all the time.
Hmmm, hadn’t seen this part, before. Looks like Roddy was a bit more engaged in the pursuit of the murder victim than just making videos:
According to the arrest warrant, Bryan tried “to confine and detain” Arbery without legal authority by “utilizing his vehicle on multiple occasions” before Arbery was shot.[96] The GBI said their investigators found “a number of pieces of video” that linked Bryan to the case.[97] Bryan was alleged to have attempted to block Arbery, which was unsuccessful, and struck Arbery with his pickup truck while chasing him.[23][98] Arbery’s palm print was found on the rear door of Bryan’s truck, cotton fibers near the truck bed were attributed to contact with Mr. Arbery, and a dent was found below the location of the cotton fibers.[98]
Those folks don’t take kindly to outsiders. Well, at least not to some outsiders.
The dent in the truck, and clothing fibers, is also consistent with Bryan’s account of arbery trying to forcibly enter the truck.
Was that before or after Arbrey had to run into the drainage ditch to keep from being murdered by motor vehicle by neighborhood filmmaker?
Now I understand why “Roddy” was also charged with murder. He should also be charged with depraved mind. The three Bubbas deserve one another.
Here are some comments by “uninvolved” filmmaker’s lawyer:
“A text sent from Roddie Bryan’s number on January 20, Martin Luther King Day, read, “I bet ya’ll are truly having a Monkey Parade over there.”
There are also “multiple pages” of him using the N-word, CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca stated.
Bryan’s lawyer, Kevin Gough, said using the N-word doesn’t make him racist. Gough also stated, “It’s not a word I would use but I’m not Roddie Bryan.””
I wonder if expiring rapper arbery ever uttered the enword.
Yes, I imagine that you do.
I said I did.
These defendants are turning out to be some really “cultured” personalities!
“UPDATE: The sex crimes investigation by the
@GBI_GA
into William Roddie Bryan, one of the men charged in #AhmaudArbery’s death, is an ongoing child molestation investigation. Public records say it’s out of Camden County, and the sheriff’s office there asked for GBI’s help July 15”
I’m reminded of an old Charlie Daniels song, Wonder who the good-guy will turn out to be.
Sheesh, cultured is as cultured does? Greg McMichael had an engraved Glynn County Police Department .357 Magnum revolver in his hand while covering his son during the execution of Arbery.
“The elder McMichael was a police officer but had his law enforcement privileges revoked in February 2019 after a multitude of infractions dating back to 2005. He and other officials in the district attorney’s office signed a memo at that time in which he agreed to give up his badge and weapon and was reclassified as a nonsworn employee.”
A MULTITUDE of infractions?
What bearing does that alleged crime have on this alleged crime? Asking for a moron.
Greg had that service revolver in his hand during the murder of Arbery. You might inform the moron that Greg knew Arbery from his previous work with the district attorney, Jackie Johnson, who has also been charged in a related matter.
Did Greg shoot arbery? If he was trying to murder him, why didn’t he shoot?
I don’t think that Greg shot Arbery, that appears to have been Travis’ handiwork. Arbery was already dead, shot three times with a 12 gauge shotgun, and lying in the street before Greg came down from his vantage point in the pickup truck bed.
“Why didn’t he shoot”? I don’t know. Maybe he thought it would be disrespectful to a corpse? Maybe he had an epiphany and suddenly realized what he, and they, had just done. Maybe he couldn’t get a clean shot from the bed of the truck.
Shooting an unarmed man who has already been shot three times may have exceeded his zeal to recover a tape measure, pencil, screw driver or whatever he SUSPECTED Arbery of having stolen. It’s not like Arbery had a screw driver, hammer or circular saw in his possession.
Trespassing on Larry English’s construction project hardly creates an obvious moral imperative to initiate a “citizens arrest”, let alone at gunpoint. But, ya’know how it goes, being a former Coast Guard boarding officer, it is entirely conceivable that Travis would have unimpeachable insight into the mind of total strangers.
Someone wants to change the narrative of a man running for his life into a man charging down on a mouth-breathing vigilante with a shotgun.
Arbery owed the defendants/vigilantes nothing. You may think that Arbery was the aggressor. I see it the other way. One certain element about Arbery is that he was a “jogger” and he avoided conflict. Arbery, from what I have read, was not confrontational–he would run away from conflict.
Arbery’s day was coming but it should never have come on the day it came