Lawyers for Georgia men: ‘Don’t rush to judgment’
DECATUR, Ga. — Attorneys for two white men accused of pursuing and killing a black man in Georgia said Thursday their clients have been vilified and cautioned against a rush to judgment.
Gregory and Travis McMichael, a father and son, are charged with aggravated assault and felony murder in the Feb. 23 death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. The case stirred outrage after a video of Arbery’s final moments surfaced online last week.
The attorneys for 34-year-old Travis McMichael — Bob Rubin and Jason Sheffield — said at a news conference Thursday that while the shooting was captured on video, much remains unknown. Sheffield called Arbery’s death “a tragedy.”
“Right now we are starting at the end,” Sheffield said outside their metro Atlanta law office. “We know the ending. What we don’t know is the beginning.”
Rubin added: “We implore all of you . . . don’t rush to judgment.”
Rubin and Sheffield didn’t respond when asked who was paying them.
Defense attorneys for both McMichaels said they plan to ask a judge to set bond so their clients can be released from jail pending trial.
Laura and Frank Hogue, a husband and wife criminal defense team based in Macon, said they have been hired to represent 64-year-old Gregory McMichael.
“So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgment, which has happened in this case,” Laura Hogue said in a statement Thursday.
“We agree with the attorneys for Travis McMichael that the justice system affords all citizens the presumption of innocence,” attorneys for Arbery’s parents said in an emailed statement. “We only wish that their client, Travis McMichael, had provided that same presumption of innocence to Ahmaud Arbery before chasing and killing him.”