Defense fails to oust Jackson from trial
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined Ahmaud Arbery’s parents Monday at the trial of three white men charged with murdering their son, prompting an unsuccessful request by a defense attorney to have the civil rights leader removed.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man in a pickup truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020.
Their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan joined the chase and told police he ran Arbery off the road with his own truck before taking cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting him three times with a shotgun.
The same defense lawyer complained last week when the Rev. Al Sharpton joined Arbery’s mother and father inside the Glynn County courtroom. Attorney Kevin Gough said he feared Sharpton was trying to influence the jury, telling the judge “we don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here.”
Gough renewed his concern Monday when Jackson sat in the back of the courtroom gallery between Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, and father, Marcus Arbery Sr. The civil rights leader wore a mask, but at one point pulled it down beneath his chin while speaking with CooperJones.
“In the context of this trial, we object to his presence in the public gallery,” Gough told the judge while the jury was outside the courtroom. “How many pastors does the Arbery family have? We had the Rev. Al Sharpton last week.”
He added: “There is no reason for these prominent icons in the civil rights movement to be here. With all due respect, I would suggest, whether intended or not, that inevitably a juror is going to be influenced by their presence in the courtroom.”
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley declined to ask Jackson to leave. Courtrooms are generally open to the public, although the judge has limited seating in the public gallery because of the coronavirus pandemic.