The character of Ahmaud Arbery, and the father and son charged in his shooting death, will be up for discussion Thursday at what promises to be a contentious hearing in this closely watched case.
Lawyers for Greg and Travis McMichael will argue their past service to the community warrants their release from jail on bond. Arbery, 25, was cornered by the McMichaels and another man, William “Roddie” Bryan following a chase on Feb. 23 through a subdivision outside Brunswick. Arbery, who was African-American, was shot three times by Travis McMichael and died at the scene. Bryan captured the incident on his cell phone.
Attorneys for the McMichaels, charged with felony and malice murder, say their clients believed Arbery had burglarized a neighboring house under construction. Prosecutors said he was jogging and stole nothing.
EXPLORE: Full coverage of the Ahmaud Arbery shooting
Bryan, also facing two counts of murder, was denied bond in July. Decatur defense attorney Keith Adams said that would seem to complicate the McMichaels' bid.
“You could argue (the McMichaels) were more culpable,” Adams said. "If Bryan was denied bond the judge would be hard-pressed to grant it to (the Michaels). "
Those aren’t the only factors at play in deciding the McMichaels’ immediate fate.
“We strongly believe our client is an excellent candidate for bond, based on his ties to the community, lack of criminal records and history of service in Glynn County and beyond,” said attorney Bob Rubin, who represents Travis McMichael.
He plans to point to the six lives his client saved, one as a lifeguard and the others while serving in U.S. Coast Guard. Greg McMichael, a former investigator with the Brunswick district attorney’s office, also saved a life while in the U.S. Navy, rescuing a fellow shipmate from drowning, said his attorney, Frank Hogue. The man he rescued was Black, Hogue said in a recent interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“It does have an impact," Adams said of the McMichaels' past good deeds. “You’re asking the judge to weigh that one bad act they’re accused of against what they’ve done before.”
Motions filed by the prosecution indicate they may counter with evidence they say confirms racial animus by the McMichaels. If the judge approves, the defense is prepared to respond with evidence exploring “the issues and problems that have plagued Ahmaud Arbery throughout his life,” said Jason Sheffield, Rubin’s co-counsel.
When he was in high school, Arbery was sentenced to five years probation as a first offender on charges of carrying a weapon on campus and several counts of obstructing a law enforcement officer. He was convicted of a probation violation in 2018 after he was charged with shoplifting, court documents show.
Adams said it’s unlikely the defense would prevail on that matter.
“The character of a victim is almost never relevant,” he said. “The defendants claim they didn’t know him. So they would have no way of knowing about these past accusations.”
Rubin said the defense’s hand would be forced if the state relies on “disputed allegations” about alleged racist conduct in arguing against bond.
Those allegations include Facebook posts by father and son, posted in 2019, along with a racist text message sent by Travis McMichael. The younger McMichael was also accused, by Bryan, of calling Arbery a “f---ing (n-word)” as he stood over the young man’s dying body, according to testimony by GBI special agent in charge Richard Dial.
The defense has sought to cast doubt against the latter claim, saying Bryan didn’t mention the epithet until his fourth interview with the GBI.
“There was a motive for him to bring up race in his fourth interview," Rubin said in a previous interview. "Because at that point, he’s looking to cut a deal.”
Court documents spell out the state’s primary objections to granting the McMichaels, whom they label as “the primary aggressors in this case."
Prosecutors also intend to highlight a “threatening Facebook post” from Travis McMichael regarding thefts in their neighborhood.
“The fact that, on Feb. 23, upon Greg McMichael seeing Ahmaud Arbery, defendants chose to arm themselves with firearms" even though they hadn’t witnessed him committing any crimes, prosecutors said in a pre-trial filing.
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