A Georgia judge Friday denied bond for the father and son charged with murder in the February slaying of Ahmaud Arbery, citing that he’s “concerned” the white men took the law into their own hands and endangered neighbors when they pursued and shot the Black man in a residential street, according to an article from https://blackamericaweb.com/.
Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, have been in jail since their May arrests, over two months after Arbery, 25, was killed. The McMichaels armed themselves and chased Arbery in a truck after they saw him running in their neighborhood just outside the city of Brunswick, Georgia.
Defense attorneys for the McMichaels say the men had legal rights to go after Arbery because they had reason to suspect he was a burglar, according to the article. They also state that Travis McMichael was defending himself when he shot Arbery three times with a shotgun because cellphone video of the shooting shows Arbery punching him and grappling for the gun, according to the article. Prosecutors say Arbery was no criminal but was simply out jogging and the McMichaels acted as “vigilantes” motivated by racist views.
They also showed the judge photos of a home near the shooting scene that was damaged by gunfire, according to the article.
“You can interpret the video in a number of different ways,” Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley told attorneys while denying the men bond at the hearing Friday in the article. “But the video tells me there’s a significant risk and danger to the community.”
Questions about if racism played a role in the killing came into clearer focus during a previous hearing when an investigator testified that a third defendant, who took cellphone video of the shooting, told authorities he heard Travis McMichael, 34, utter a racial slur after he took aim and shot Arbery three times with a shotgun, according to the article.
In court Thursday, prosecutor Jesse Evans read a message Travis McMichael posted on Facebook that used an offensive term for Asians, as well as a text message Travis McMichael sent last year to a friend that used a slur for Black people when referring to a “crackhead … with gold teeth,” according to the article. The friend, Zachary Langford, at first said he didn’t recall receiving the message. After reviewing a transcript of the exchange on the witness stand, he said: “He was referring to a raccoon, I believe.”
Defense attorneys for both McMichaels have denied any racist motives in the shooting. The McMichaels weren’t arrested until the cellphone video of the shooting leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case, the article stated. In June, a grand jury indicted both McMichaels and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, on charges. Each was charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment, according to the article. In seeking bond, defense attorneys for the McMichaels said neither would flee or pose a threat of further violence, the article added.
They cited Travis McMichaels’ decade as a U.S. Coast Guard mechanic as proof of his character. Lee McMichael, the wife of 64-year-old Gregory McMichael, testified that her husband had never shot anyone after working three decades as a Glynn County police officer and an investigator for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit district attorney’s office, according to the article. Bryan was previously denied bond. His attorney has argued in court motions that the entire indictment should be dismissed.
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