Ahmaud Arbery verdict: All three men convicted as Kamala Harris slams defense for ‘dehumanizing’ Arbery
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Three white men have been found guilty of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger who they chased in their trucks then shot and killed as he made his way through a suburban neighbourhood in Georgia last February.
The shooting, along with the murder of George Floyd last May by police in Minneapolis, helped inspire 2020’s mass racial injustice protests.
Gregory McMichael, his son Travis, and their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan faced a total of nine state charges, including malice murder, felony murder, false imprisonment, aggravated assault with a 12-gauge shotgun, and aggravated assault with pickup trucks, after pursuing Mr Arbery, 25, through the community of Satilla Shores, near Brunswick, Georgia, on 23 February of last year.
The jury began deliberations on Tuesday in Glynn County, Georgia, and considered the charges for more than 10 hours, before handing back a complicated final decision.
Travis McMichael, the man who shot Mr Arbery, was found guilty on all nine counts.
Gregory McMichael, who rode in the same truck as his son Travis, where the men were armed with a pistol and a shotgun, was found not guilty of malice murder, but guilty on all other counts.
Bryan, their neighbour, who joined the pursuit in his own truck and filmed the encounter, was found not guilty of malice murder and one count of felony murder, while being held guilty on three other counts of felony murder and three other charges.
Al Sharpton praises verdict: Jury ‘said that Black lives do matter'
Reverend Al Sharpton hailed the Ahmaud Arbery verdict in a speech outside the courthouse on Wednesday, declaring that a nearly all-white jury had recognized Mr Arbery’s humanity.
“And let the word go forth all over the world, that a jury of 11 whites and 1 Black in the Deep South stood up in the courtroom and said that Black lives do matter,” Mr Sharpton told a cheering crowd.
CNN analyst slams defense lawyer: ‘She was in the gutter'
In the wake of the guilty verdicts, CNN legal analyst Laura Coates lashed out at one of the defense lawyers for saying Ahmaud Arbery had “dirty toenails.”
Gregory McMichael’s lawyer, Laura Hogue, said after the guilty verdict that she was “floored” by the jury’s decision. That drew a heated response from Ms Coates.
“Well, frankly I am not sure why she should be floored when she was in the gutter when it came to the comments about the hygiene of the victim,” Ms Coates said on the news network.
Read more here:
CNN legal expert hits out at defence lawyer for saying Arbery had ‘dirty toenails’
Could the Ahmaud Arbery verdict spell the end of so-called ‘vigilante justice’?
Ahmaud Arbery’s death - and the guilty verdicts at his murder trial - have shone a spotlight on the concepts of self defence, citizen’s arrest, stand-your-ground and open carry laws.
For years, these laws - many of them rooted in statutes drawn up before America was even founded - have offered protection to the people pulling the trigger.
But the high-profile nature of the trial and its prominence in the racial justice movement has raised questions about where the line is drawn between vigilante justice and, quite simply, racism and murder.
“People talk about vigilante justice, but what it turns into is vigilante injustice,” Ira Robbins, a law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, tells The Independent.
Read the analysis by The Independent’s Rachel Sharp here:
Could the trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers spell the end for ‘vigilante justice’?
Sen Jon Ossoff says ‘further investigation’ is needed
Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia praised the guilty verdicts of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers, but criticized officials for what he called their initial refusal to prosecute the case.
“Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers will be held accountable, but a historic civil rights mobilization was necessary for the killers to face prosecution at all,” the senator said in a statement. “There was nearly impunity for this murder, and further investigation is necessary to determine how and why officials initially refused to pursue the case.”
Ahmaud Arbery’s father reacts to verdict: ‘Today is a good day'
Marcus Arbery, father of Ahmaud Arbery, hailed the guilty verdicts in the trial for his son’s murder.
“I don't want to see no daddy watch their kid get lynched and shot down like that,” Mr Arbery told a cheering crowd outside the courthouse. “Today is a good day.”
Mr Arbery had earlier been removed from the courtroom after he audibly cheered the first verdict.
Victorious prosecutor says ‘the jury system works’
Basking in today’s guilty verdicts, lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said the trial was a “team effort” and praised jurors for doing “the right thing.”
“The jury system works in this country, and when you present the truth to people and they can see it, they will do the right thing,” Ms Dunikoski said.