Judge: Speed up jury selection in trial for Arbery’s killing

BRUNSWICK, GA. — The judge overseeing the trial of the three men charged with Ahmaud Arbery’s death expressed frustration Tuesday at the pace of jury selection.

Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley had a panel of 20 prospective jurors scheduled to appear in court in the early afternoon but he sent them home because questioning of members of the prior panel was far from finished.

“I do not have the ability to just store people or keep them longer than planned,” the judge said. “I am not comfortable with this. … At the rate we’re going, all these plans we have to move these panels through are not going to work.”

By afternoon, Walmsley had not declared anyone qualified to remain in the final group from which the jury will be chosen. At least 14 pool members have been dismissed since jury selection began Monday afternoon.

With the Feb. 23, 2020, killing having received so much publicity locally and nationally, many lawyers following the case expected jury selection to creep along. The unstated goal was for it to take up to two weeks to pick 12 jurors and four alternates for the case, but the process could take longer.

Jury duty notices were mailed to 1,000 people in coastal Glynn County, with 600 ordered to report Monday and the remainder on deck for next week if needed. The huge jury pool underscores how Arbery’s slaying dominated the news, social media feeds and workplace chatter locally.

Already, many jurors have said they have already made up their minds that Travis McMichael, who killed Arbery with three shotgun blasts; his father Greg McMichael, a former District Attorney’s Office investigator; and William “Roddie” Bryan, who took the cellphone video of the killing, are guilty as charged.