Dueling portraits presented of Arbery

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Friday presented dueling portraits of Ahmaud Arbery, who was either an innocent Black runner fatally shot by three white strangers or “a scary mystery” who had been seen prowling around a Georgia neighborhood.

In her opening statement, prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said the short cellphone video that stirred national outrage over Arbery’s slaying offered only a glimpse of the attack on the 25year-old, who gave his pursuers no reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing.

“They assumed that he must have committed some crime that day,” Dunikoski said. “He tried to run around their truck and get way from these strangers, total strangers, who had already told him that they would kill him. And then they killed him.”

Robert Rubin, an attorney for Travis McMichael, the man who shot Arbery three times, described Arbery to the overwhelmingly white jury as “an intruder” who had four times been recorded on video at a neighboring house under construction.

McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, gave chase, hoping to detain Arbery until police arrived, Rubin said, but Arbery refused to stop and lunged toward McMichael and his gun.

“But at that point, Travis McMichael is acting in self-defense,” Rubin said. “He did not want to encounter Ahmaud Arbery physically. He was only trying to stop him for the police.”

Arbery’s killing on Feb . 23, 2020, was largely ignored until the video leaked and deepened a national reckoning over racial injustice.

Franklin Hogue, Greg McMichael’s defense attorney, said most facts in the trial are not in dispute.

“The why it happened is what this case is about,” Hogue said. “This case is about intent, beliefs, knowledge — reasons for beliefs whether they were true or not.”

All three defendants are standing trial together, charged with murder and other felonies.

Arbery had been dead for more than two months when Bryan’s video of the killing leaked online in May 2020. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. GBI agents arrested the McMichaels the next day, and charged Bryan two weeks later.