Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery who was shot dead ‘tried to run… and get away’, court told
A group of men chased a black jogger – with one warning “I’ll blow your f****** head off!” – because they assumed he had committed a crime, a court has heard.
Ahmaud Arbery was pursued for five minutes by the group before being shot dead near Brunswick, Georgia, on 23 February 2020.
A phone video of the killing sparked outrage, and jurors were told on Friday that Mr Arbery had given the group no reason to suspect him of anything.
Travis McMichael fired the fatal shots, police say. Pic: Georgia Bureau of Investigations
“They assumed that he must have committed some crime that day,” prosecutor Linda Dunikoski told the court.
“He tried to run around their truck and get away from these strangers, total strangers, who had already told him that they would kill him. And then they killed him,” she said.
The 25-year-old was chased by Greg McMichael, 65, and his son Travis McMichael, 35, who grabbed weapons and got in their truck as he ran though their neighbourhood.
The court was told that William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, a neighbour, joined in and recorded the video of Travis McMichael shooting Mr Arbery three times.
The chase began after another neighbour saw Mr Arbery wandering inside a home under construction, where security cameras had recorded him before, and called a police non-emergency number.
Greg McMichael told police that at one point he had shouted at Mr Arbery: “Stop or I’ll blow your f****** head off!”, the prosecutor said.
William ‘Roddie’ Bryan was a neighbour who joined the chase. Pic: AP
“All three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions – not on facts, not on evidence,” Ms Dunikoski told the jury.
“And they made decisions in their driveways based on those assumptions that took a young man’s life.”
Mr Arbery’s mother cried out and sobbed as the grainy video of the killing was played to the court.
The prosecutor described how it shows Travis McMichael raise his shotgun as Mr Arbery approaches and tries to run around the opposite side of the truck.
He is then seen stepping in front of the vehicle to confront the fleeing man.
Greg McMichael, a former investigator for the local district attorney, told police they suspected Mr Arbery was a burglar and were trying to make a citizen’s arrest.
People have been on the streets of Brunswick protesting over the case
He said his son fired in self-defence after Mr Arbery attacked him with his fists and tried to take Travis McMichael’s gun.
The men’s lawyers say the neighbourhood was “on edge” over reports of thefts.
“It is a citizen’s job to help the police, and the law authorises that,” said Robert Rubin, a lawyer representing Travis McMichael.
Mr Rubin described Mr Arbery as “an intruder” who had been recorded four times “plundering around” a house under construction.
The video of the chase was played in court. Pic: AP
He called the footage of his death “a horrible, horrible video” but said his client had acted to protect himself after Mr Arbery refused to stop and lunged towards him and his gun.
“Travis McMichael is acting in self-defence,” he told the jury.
“He did not want to encounter Ahmaud Arbery physically. He was only trying to stop him for the police.”
Prosecutors insist Mr Arbery was just out jogging, had no weapons, keys or wallet on him – and had committed no crimes in the area.
Ms Dunikoski described him as an “avid runner” who often ran in the neighbourhood – less than two miles from his home.
“You’re going to be able to see his Nike shoes,” she told the court, “where he had basically no tread left on them whatsoever”.
The lawyer said the owner of the half-built property – where Mr Arbery had been seen on previous occasions – believed he was using a water source to quench his thirst and that nothing was taken.
Lawyer Linda Dunikoski
The case was largely ignored until the video was leaked online in May last year.
There has been controversy over the the jury, which is made up of 11 white people and one black person.
It took more than two weeks to select from more than 200 people – who were asked in detail what they knew about the case and how many times they had watched the video.
Prosecutors have objected to the final jury and said defence lawyers cut eight potential jurors because they were black.
The judge conceded there appeared to be “intentional discrimination”.
However, he said state law limited his authority to intervene as the defence gave non-racial reasons for excluding the black candidates.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.
Charges against Donald Trump and others in an election interference case in the US state of Georgia have been dismissed.
Pete Skandalakis, the prosecutor who recently took over the case, said in court papers on Wednesday that he has decided to take no further action.
It was unlikely the legal action against the US president could have progressed while he was still in office, but the 14 others – including Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, and ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows – had still faced charges.
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Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani was among those charged. File pic: AP/Ted Shaffrey
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced the charges in 2023. Pic: AP
The case was dismissed in full by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee after Mr Skandalakis submitted his decision.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had alleged a wide-ranging conspiracy to illegally overturn Mr Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the key swing state in the 2020 presidential election.
Charges against Mr Trump centred around a phone call he made to Georgia’s top election official, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger.
Mr Trump told his fellow Republican: “I just want to find 11,780 votes”, recordings of the conversation showed.
Mr Trump and 18 co-defendants were initially accused.
Four of the accused made plea deals with prosecutors, while the others, including Mr Trump, Mr Giuliani and Mr Meadows, pleaded not guilty.
A police mugshot taken of Donald Trump after he was booked on 13 election fraud charges in Georgia. Pic: Reuters
An angry-looking Mr Trump was pictured as he was booked on the charges at the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, and copies of the mugshot generated sales of more than $7m (£5.3m) in a matter of days, his campaign said.
In a 22-page memo explaining his decision, Mr Skandalakis noted the entire case is “without precedent,” and pointed in part to the challenges of trying a case against a sitting president.
Mr Skandalakis wrote: “In my professional opinion, the citizens of Georgia are not served by pursuing this case in full for another five to ten years”.
He said he was ending the case “to serve the interests of justice and promote judicial finality” and his decision is “not guided by a desire to advance an agenda but is based on my beliefs and understanding of the law”.
Mr Trump’s lawyer in the case, Steve Sadow, welcomed the end of what he called a “political persecution” of the US president.
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“This case should never have been brought. A fair and impartial prosecutor has put an end to this lawfare,” he said.
Ms Willis, who brought the case in August 2023, was disqualified from prosecuting it last December.
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An appeals court in the state capital, Atlanta, ruled that a romantic relationship she had with Nathan Wade, the special prosecutor she chose to lead the case, created “a significant appearance of impropriety.”
Defence lawyers claimed the district attorney profited from the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for holidays the pair took.
She appealed the verdict, but lost her case in September, despite Mr Wade having quit his role.
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Donald Trump has claimed Russia is “making concessions” in talks to end the Ukraine war – and that Kyiv is “happy” with how talks are progressing.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew out to his Florida estate for Thanksgiving, Mr Trump said “we’re making progress” on a deal and said he would be willing to meet with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy once they are close to an agreement.
He also said his previously announced deadline of Thursday, which is Thanksgiving, was no longer in place – and that the White House’s initial 28-point peace plan, which sparked such concern in Kyiv, “was just a map”.
Asked if Ukraine had been asked to hand over too much territory, Mr Trump suggested that “over the next couple of months [that] might be gotten by Russia anyway”.
Moscow’s concessions are a promise to stop fighting, “and they don’t take any more land”, he said.
“The deadline for me is when it’s over,” he added. “And I think everybody’s tired of fighting at this moment.”
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‘Ukraine still needs defence support,’ says Zelenskyy
Before boarding the plane, Mr Trump had claimed only a few “points of disagreement” remain between the two sides.
Mr Trump’s negotiator Steve Witkoff will be meeting with Mr Putin in Moscow next week, the president said, while American army secretary Daniel Driscoll is due to travel to Kyiv for talks this week.
The chief of Ukraine’s presidential staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote: “Ukraine has never been and will never be an obstacle to peace. We are grateful to the US for all its support.
“The meeting between the presidents will be thoroughly and promptly prepared on our part.”
Zelenskyy warns against ‘behind our back’ deal
Yesterday, a virtual “coalition of the willing” meeting that featured Ukraine’s allies took place, which was attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio.
In a speech, Mr Zelenskyy told attendees: “We firmly believe security decisions about Ukraine must include Ukraine, security decisions about Europe must include Europe.
“Because when something is decided behind the back of a country or its people, there is always a high risk it simply won’t work.”
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What is Russia saying about the latest peace talks?
A joint statement from coalition leaders Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Friedrich Merz said they had agreed with Mr Rubio “to accelerate joint work” with the US on the planning of security guarantees for Ukraine.
But a Ukrainian diplomat has warned major sticking points remain in the peace deal being thrashed out – primarily the prospect of territorial concessions.
A warning from the Kremlin
Meanwhile, Moscow has stressed that it will not allow any agreement to stray too far from its own objectives.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned any amended peace plan must reflect the understanding reached between Mr Trump and Mr Putin over the summer.
“If the spirit and letter of Anchorage is erased in terms of the key understandings we have established then, of course, it will be a fundamentally different situation,” he said, referring to the two leaders’ meeting in Alaska.
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Standing ovation for Zelenskyy
As negotiations continue, so have Russian attacks, with Kyiv hit by a barrage of missiles and hundreds of drones early yesterday morning.
Seven people were killed with power and heating systems disrupted, as residents sheltered underground.
Meanwhile, three people died and homes were damaged after Ukraine launched an attack on southern Russia.
‘A critical juncture’
French President Emmanuel Macron has said peace efforts are gathering momentum, but “are clearly at a critical juncture”.
And during the annual White House turkey pardon ahead of Thanksgiving, Mr Trump told reporters: “I think we’re getting close to a deal. We’ll find out.
“I thought that would have been an easier one, but I think we’re making progress.”
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