Father and son denied bond in Arbery shooting

ATLANTA — A judge on Friday denied Greg and Travis Michael’s application for bond.

The two men are in jail as they await trial for the February killing of 25-year-old Arbery, an unarmed Black man who was shot while running in a residential area outside Brunswick.

The McMichaels, along with neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, are accused of chasing Arbery in their pick-up trucks. The trip has claimed they believed Arbery burglarized a nearby house under construction. Prosecutors say Arbery was just out jogging the day of the fatal February encounter and stole nothing.

He was shot three times by Travis McMichael as his father, Gregory McMichael, observed from the back of his truck, according to police. The McMichaels and Bryan were charged with murder in May, after video of the shooting was widely circulated on social media; Bryan was denied bond in July.

In the courtroom Friday, prosecutor Jesse Evans argued that ex-cop Gregory McMichaels and his son Travis pose a “significant danger” to the community and should not be released. He also said the elder McMichael has “vigilante views” and could potentially try obstructing the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors believe racism played a key role in the killing, with critics describing the caught-onvideo incident as an example of modern-day lynching.

Evans on Thursday cited a series of online communications attributed to Travis McMichael, who fired the three fatal shots, as evidence of racism, including a 2019 text message in which he allegedly wrote about shooting “a crackhead (slur) with gold teeth” and a year-old Facebook comment featuring an offensive term for Asians. Longtime friend Zachary Langford, who was part of those exchanges, denied that his buddy was being racist.

The two men claim they were trying to question Arbery that day because he fit the description of a suspect in a string of burglaries in the neighborhood.

Prosecutors and Arbery’s family dispute that argument.

Surveillance footage shows the victim did go into a vacant construction site before the shooting, but there has been no evidence so far that he ever stole anything from the property and the homeowner said he never asked the McMichaels for any help.

Lawyers for the defense had pointed to their close family ties to Brunswick, service to the community and lack of any criminal record in arguing their case for bond.

But Judge Timothy Walmsley said he was troubled by the fact the McMichaels “appeared to take the law into their own hands,” saying he did not believe they had sufficient reason to believe Arbery was guilty of anything.