Mostly white Ga. jury puts race out front in Arbery trial
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The selection of a nearly all-white jury to decide the fate of three men charged with murder for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery has forced concerns about racial fairness to the forefront of the case before the trial even begins.
The trial over the 25-year-old Black man’s slaying by white men who spotted Arbery running in their neighborhood has become part of the broader reckoning on racial injustice in the U.S. legal system and whether Black victims get treated fairly.
Arbery’s family and their supporters had their faith rattled Wednesday when 2 weeks of jury selection ended with the judge agreeing to seat a jury of 11 whites and one Black man. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said he agreed with prosecutors that the exclusion of other Black potential jurors appeared to be “intentional discrimination.” He also said Georgia law limited his authority to intervene after defense attorneys stated nonracial reasons for cutting those jurors.
Greg McMichael and his adult son, Travis McMichael, armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck on Feb. 23, 2020, as he ran in a subdivision outside Brunswick. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan,” joined the chase in his own truck and took cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery three times with a shotgun.
No arrests were made until the graphic video of the shooting leaked online more than two months later. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police and the McMichaels and Bryan were soon jailed on charges of murder and other felony
counts. Defense attorneys say the men committed no crimes. They say Arbery had been recorded by security cameras inside a nearby house under construction and they suspected him of stealing. Greg McMichael told police his son opened fire in self-defense after Arbery attacked with his fists and grappled for Travis McMichael’s shotgun.
Black potential jurors seemed to face greater scrutiny than whites as they were questioned by lawyers during jury selection, and the resulting jury likely favors the defense, said Page Pate, a Georgia criminal defense attorney who isn’t involved in the case.
“I’m not saying it’s intentionally discriminatory, or if it was just the dynamic of this case, but it was a lot harder to get on this jury if you were Black than if you were white,” Pate said.
Many expressed strong opinions about Arbery’s killing and their beliefs that race played a role. Some knew Arbery or other members of his family. Defense attorneys cited those reasons for striking Black people from the pool.
The judge said the group of 48 used to narrow down the final jury had included 12 potential jurors who were Black. Prosecutors
were allowed to strike a dozen people from the pool and defense lawyers got to cut 24, for virtually any reason save for one exception. The Supreme Court has held it’s unconstitutional to exclude potential jurors based solely on race or ethnicity.
“It’s outrageous that Black jurors were intentionally excluded,” Ben Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., said Thursday.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, left the courthouse saying she remained confident the jury would “make the right decision.” But she also said she was “very shocked that we only had one Black” on the panel.
When the trial begins with opening statements from lawyers, tentatively set for Friday, the judge plans to seat 15 jury panelists — the main jury of 12, plus three alternates.
The total number shrank by one Thursday when the judge dismissed a juror from the main panel, a white woman, citing medical reasons. The race of the alternate juror who replaced her was not known. The judge has not given the races of the alternate jurors, and they weren’t asked their race in court during jury selection.