The crime took place in Glynn County, GA in Feb. 2020. Three men are accused in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The jury had its first day of deliberations and did not yet reach a verdict.
The first deliberations lasted for five and half hours on Tuesday and they will resume Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. CT.
Closing arguments lasted for nearly two hours and lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski outlined the charges against defendants and made the case for their guilt.
She argued that the defendants have a faulty claim of self-defense because they were the ones to incite and provoke the events that took place, which resulted in Arbery being shot twice in the chest and once on the wrist.
“You can’t claim self-defense if you are the unjustified, initial aggressor,” Dunikoski said. “This isn’t the Wild West.”
The defendants are Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie Bryan. Each have been charged with murder. A video recording shows them provoking Arbery and shooting him dead as they enclosed upon him while driving pickup trucks.
Each defendant faces the same nine counts: one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal intent to commit a felony.
All three have pleaded not guilty. Travis McMichael, the person who shot the rifle, said that he “feared for his life.”
There is no evidence that Arbery committed a crime or tried to reach for anyone’s weapon at any time.
Dunikoski claimed that the case isn’t about whether the defendants are good or bad people, but rather that people should be held responsible for their actions in the court of law.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones spoke outside of the courthouse: “She presented that evidence again very well,” said Cooper-Jones. “I do think that we will come back with a guilty verdict, and I want to leave with this: God has brought us this far, and he’s not gonna fail us now. We will get justice for Ahmaud.”