How Potential Jurors, see Armaud Arbery’s Murder as Racially Motivated
How three armed men ambushed and killed one unarmed Black man
One sad day, Armaud Arbery was out for a jog enjoying his life and not bothering a soul found himself in the throes of three white men who hated him due to the color of his skin and felt he had no rights as a human being.
These three men took the life of a man they did not even know or took the time to get to know. Perhaps, if they had, Armaud Arbery would be alive today but due to their hatred, they took his life.
In a Georgia court, these three men’s defense attorneys planned was to invoke a Civil War era law to justify their clients’ actions and justification in the killing of Armaud Arbery. The last time I checked this was the 21st century.
As the trial gets its day in court, the jury pool sees racism in Armaud Arbery killing which means that the Civil War era law carries no weight, and rightfully so. This signals trouble for these three white men in this Georgia shooting per their attorneys.
Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael, his son, and, William “Roddie” Bryan, a neighbor, face murder charges in the killing of Armaud Arbery on February 23, 2020, in Georgia. Their killing of Arbery looked like a modern day lynching from watching the leaked video of the murder.
It was delightful to learn that the prospective jurors are dealing with the facts before them and not a system that has supported the killings of people of color on a regular basis.
During the jury selection, many prospects conveyed they felt the killing of Ahmaud Arbery was racially motivated by the three white men who singled him out, chased him down, shot him, and labeled him as a man that might have stole something.
Trying to obtain an impartial jury became a task in the face of the many responses that indicated the killing was racially motivated. One lady stated that the whole case is about racism and these three white men killed him like an animal. Another prospective juror proclaimed, “If it was a white guy running through the neighborhood, I don’t think he would have been targeted as a suspect.”
The defense attorneys’ job proving or justifying these three white men killing Ahmaud Arbery signals that people see the reality of this senseless murder and are readily voicing their opinion that all was racially motivated. Well, the defense attorneys are not too happy to hear the prospective jurors’ remarks or responses to questions being asked.
One potential juror conveyed if the scenario was reversed the men who committed the murder would have been locked up immediately. The defense attorney argued for the dismissal of potential jurors who felt the murder was racially motivated against the Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley demand for them to remain in the pool for a possible selection.
Gerogia Law mandates that potential jurors are not automatically disqualified regarding sharing their opinion about the case while being considered as a potential juror, as long as each pledge to set those opinions aside and remain objective and impartial during the trial.
These three white-armed men pursued Arbery in a pickup truck as he was jogging in their neighborhood on February 23, 2020, as the neighbor joined in, he used his cellphone tapping the murder of Arbery who was shot three times with a shotgun.
The defense attorneys’ justification for his clients’ murderous act was that they thought Arbery had committed a crime because he went in and out of a home under construction that according to the owners was common for passerbys. Also, in their defense, they claimed that the son fired the shot to depend himself against Arbery hitting him with his fist.
Two months after the murder of Arbery, these men were walking free until the video of the murder was leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from the local police.
If the scenario was reversed where three armed Black men had attacked one unarmed white man, these Black men would have been locked up the same day, not months later. This bespeaks of the mentality of the local police when it comes to people of color being murdered under their noses.
The defense attorneys feel that the jury pool is one of being biased and are seeking to halt the process so they can move the trial to another court. If the proceedings continue the defense attorney is already considering an appeal based on the jury selection being biased.
Shocking it was stated that these three white men are being charged with murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and attempted false imprisonment, crimes that do not require any evidence of racist motivation. Also, they face federal hate crime charges in U.S. District Court, scheduled for trial next year.
In conclusion, one man words stated the reality of his town, “I think it’s made our town look negative, for sure, ” as he blamed the defendants for singling out Arbery, as a Black guy in a white neighborhood.
The judge having the final say, allowed these jurors to remain in the juror selection pool as he cautioned each that remained that they should remain objective and opened minded and those who couldn’t be opened minded was dismissed.
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