Man who recorded fatal Ahmaud Arbery shooting charged with murder
William Bryan Jr. is arrested on charges of felony murder for recording the deadly encounter in Georgia; Jonathan Serrie reports from Atlanta.
The trial for three Georgia men charged with hate crimes in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery last February was set on Tuesday for early next year.
Travis McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, as well as a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, pleaded not guilty in May to federal hate crime charges of interference with civil rights and attempted kidnapping. Both of the McMichaels have also been charged with using, carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence.
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood set jury selection to begin Feb. 7, just a few months after the three men are scheduled to stand trial on state murder charges in October.
AHMAUD ARBERY CASE: COURT HEARING TO FOCUS ON JURY SELECTION FOR TRIAL OF 3 MEN ACCUSED OF MURDER
Travis and Greg McMichael armed themselves and pursued Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in a truck after they saw him run past their home in February 2020, according to investigators. Travis McMichael allegedly ended up killing Arbery with three shotgun blasts after a confrontation.
This combo of booking photos provided by the Glynn County, Ga., Detention Center, shows from left, Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan Jr. (Glynn County Detention Center via AP)
Bryan, who was with the McMichaels during the pursuit, took cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery.
No charges were filed for two months until cellphone video leaked online of the shooting, leading to a national outcry. The McMichaels and Bryan were then arrested in April 2020.
The federal indictment accuses the three men of illegally using force to "injure, intimidate and interfere with" Arbery "because of Arbery’s race and color."
This image from video posted on Twitter Tuesday, May 5, 2020, purports to show Ahmaud Arbery running on a street in a neighborhood outside Brunswick, Ga., on Feb. 23, 2020, as a pickup truck is stopped in front of him. (Twitter via AP)
Defense attorneys argue that no crime was committed and the McMichaels thought Arbery was a burglar because he was recorded going inside a nearby home under construction, and that Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense during a struggle over the shotgun.
Prosecutors say that Bryan told investigators he heard Travis McMichael use a racial slur at Arbery while he was on the ground before police arrived. Prosecutors have also asked the judge to allow the jury to see text messages and social media posts by the three men that they say show a lack of "racial goodwill."
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The defense, meanwhile, wants the jury to hear evidence of Arbery's past run-ins with law enforcement, as well as evidence that he suffered from a mental illness.
Attorneys for the three men did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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