Judge Advances Murder Cases of Three Men Charged in Ahmaud Arbery Killing
Daniel Uria and Don Jacobson, UPI, June 4, 2020
A Georgia judge on Thursday advanced the cases against the three defendants charged with murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery to trial court.
Magistrate Court Judge Wallace Harrell found there was enough evidence to allow the cases against Travis McMichael, 34, his father Greg McMichael, 64, and William Bryan, 50, to advance following a probable cause hearing featuring testimony from a special prosecutor and the lead investigator.
The McMichaels and their neighbor, Bryan, are each charged with felony murder in the killing of Arbery, who died after he was shot three times on Feb. 23 as he was jogging through a Brunswick neighborhood less than 2 miles from his home.
Special prosecutor Jesse Evans said Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, “was chased, hunted down and ultimately executed” while being boxed in by two pickup trucks driven by the white defendants.
Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Richard Dial testified that the driver of the first pickup truck, Travis McMichael, got out of the truck and shot Arbery three times with a shotgun.
Dial also testified that Bryan heard Travis McMichael call Arbery a racial slur after firing the fatal shots.
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The Justice Department said last month federal prosecutors are also weighing hate crimes charges in the case.
