Brunswick right locale for Arbery murder trial
Finding impartial jurors proving difficult in trial of accused murderers. For justice’s sake, the case must be decided by those who live the racial and cultural reality embodied by this case.
This is a column by Opinion Editor Adam Van Brimmer.
One in every 62 jury-eligible Glynn County, Ga., residents received a summons for the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial.
Two fruitless days into jury selection for the case against the three men accused of murdering Arbery, we better understand why the pool is so oceantrench deep. Finding 16 impartial jurors – less than 0.002% of those called – to hear the case in Brunswick would seem a fool’s errand. The prospective jurors are knowledgeable about Arbery’s February 2020 death and the circumstances around it.
This familiarity has renewed public calls for a change of venue over concerns about a hung jury or mistrial. The Arbery trial is too historically significant to chance an outcome other than a conviction or an acquittal, or so the narrative goes.
The move-the-trial crowd makes a sound argument from a legal strategy standpoint. For justice’s sake, though, the case must be heard, argued and decided by Brunswick-area residents, by men and women who live the racial and cultural reality embodied by this case and in this small town that like so many others in America remains quietly divided by long-standing prejudices.
Granted, jury selection will be an ultra-marathon. Only those Glynn Countians recently awakened from a 20-month coma are unaware of Arbery’s February 2020 death and the circumstances around it.
The horrifying video.
The systematic cover-up by local prosecutors.
Arbery’s past.
One of the defendant’s connections to local law enforcement.
The racial justice protests sparked by the killing.
Besides the publicity around the case, the fact is Brunswick is a small community long home to both the victim and defendants. People knew Arbery or know people who knew him. Same goes for Greg and Travis Mcmichael and Roddie Bryan, the trio on the video seen stalking, shooting and standing over Arbery as he lay dying on the side of the road.
But because everyone involved was or is a native son and because this local tragedy has impacted broader society so profoundly, Brunswick is the best – and only – place for this trial.
Consider the changes seen since the video of Arbery’s slaying first went viral in May 2020.
The longtime district attorney who initially handled the case, Jackie Johnson, lost re-election last November - to an independent candidate. Johnson has since been indicted on misconduct changes related to the case.
Glynn County Police Chief John Powell was placed on administrative leave in February 2020, albeit based on an investigation into misconduct that predates Arbery’s slaying. A grand jury report from May 2020 described a “culture of cover-up, failure to supervise, abuse of power” in the department. Powell’s successor as police chief is now orchestrating a department overhaul.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Gov. Brian Kemp intervened in the wake of the video’s release. They called on the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and an Atlanta-area prosecutor to take over the case.
The Georgia General Assembly passed the state’s first hate crime law and repealed an 1880s-era citizen’s arrest statute in the past two sessions. All of these actions started with Brunswick-area residents, Black and white alike, demanding answers in Arbery’s slaying. In the 73 days between the shooting and the arrests, they refused to accept the apathy shown by the District Attorney’s office and the Glynn County Police.
The pressure prompted the video’s release – one of the defendant’s lawyers leaked the video to a local radio station, evidently believing the public would watch it and interpret the shooting of Arbery as an act of self-defense, just as the police and DA had.
The jury, once seated, could agree and vote to acquit. Then again, the video could be the key evidence that leads to a conviction.
Either way, Glynn County residents should be the ones to decide justice in this case. Only they can bring about the transformative culture change necessary in their own community.