As three white men prepare to stand trial in Ahmaud Arbery's killing, many in the slain Black man’s Georgia town see the case as a reckoning for justice. Arbery was chased and fatally shot in February 2020 while running through a neighborhood.
FILE - In this May 16, 2020, file photo, a woman holds a sign during a rally to protest the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, in Brunswick, Ga. Arbery was shot and killed while running in a neighborhood outside the port city. Jury selection in the case is scheduled to begin Monday, Oct. 18.
“It’s shaken the faith of the Black and brown community in their ability to trust the justice system,” said the Rev. John Perry, who was president of the Brunswick NAACP chapter when Arbery was killed. Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for the area district attorney, can be seen playing up his law enforcement ties on recordings taken byProsecutors contend Arbery was merely jogging on a street just 2 miles from his home. They say he was unarmed and police found no evidence he had stolen anything.
Attorneys for the McMichaels and Bryan have insisted they committed no crimes, saying they had reason to suspect Arbery was a burglar and were legally trying to stop him. At the time, Georgia law allowed arrests by private citizens. They contend Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense after Arbery attacked him with his fists and grappled for his gun.
Georgia was one of just four U.S. states without a hate crimes law at the time Arbery was slain, though Georgia lawmakers quicklyamid the outcry over his death. They also all but gutted the state citizen’s arrest statute.
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