Jury selection in Arbery trial begins
BRUNSWICK, Ga. – Jury selection began Monday in the murder trial of the three white men charged in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was shot while out jogging in this small coastal Georgia town last year.
Court officials in Glynn County expect a lengthy and challenging jury selection. Jury duty notices were mailed to 1,000 people, and 600 were directed to appear Monday in a nearby gymnasium. The court could not immediately say how many arrived.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley swore in the first 20 prospective jurors Monday afternoon. Each wore a face mask and sat 6 feet apart.
When asked by the judge, only one prospective juror indicated they were neutral on the case, and about half said they were already leaning toward either side – an early indication of the difficulty of seating a jury in the high-profile trial.
One prospective juror said they knew Arbery’s mother. When a prosecutor asked the prospective jurors if they wanted to serve on the jury, only one man raised his hand.
One prospective juror told the court he had seen so much about Arbery’s killing in the news and on social media that he was “sick of it.” The man said he shared cellphone video of the shooting on social media and discussed the case with his brothers, one of whom was also mailed a jury summons in the case.
“This is a case that has garnered significant attention in this community as well as around the country, and I have no doubt that the thousand or so individuals that were summoned, when they received that summons, reacted in some way to that,” Walmsley said.
“This is not an easy thing for anybody,” he added.
Arbery was shot while jogging Feb. 23, 2020, in Brunswick, about 70 miles south of Savannah. Father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were charged with murder and other crimes. Bryan recorded part of the shooting in a graphic video that set off a national outcry and widespread media attention over the lack of arrests early in the case.
All three defendants were in court Monday, along with members of Arbery’s family. Attorneys on both sides were expected to spend the coming days questioning the jury pool, in groups and individually.
Ultimately, the judge needs to seat a jury of 12, plus four alternates who will be on standby to fill in for any jurors who get sick or are dismissed before the trial ends. Once a jury is seated, the trial itself could take more than two weeks, Glynn County Superior Court Clerk Ronald Adams said.
Prospective jurors received a threepage pretrial questionnaire that asked what they already know about the case, where they get their news, whether they posted any online comments about Arbery’s killing, and whether they visited the scene of the shooting or did other research into the case on their own.