Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial jury selection has begun Monday for the three white men convicted of murdering a Black man whose death became part of a larger national reckoning over racial injustice, The Associated Press reports.
According to the report on Monday, given extensive pretrial publicity, U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ordered roughly 1,000 jury duty notices to be mailed to residents across 43 Georgia counties some of them a roughly four-hour drive from the courthouse in coastal Brunswick.
The first 50 Ahmaud Arbery’s murder trial jury selection pool members were to report for questioning Monday to determine if they’re able to serve as fair and impartial jurors. The judge plans to seat a jury of 12 plus four alternate jurors, the report stated.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and used a pickup truck to chase the 25-year-old Arbery after spotting him running in their neighbourhood on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbour, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded a cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun.
All three were convicted of murder in a Georgia state court the day before Thanksgiving and sentenced to life in prison a month ago. Federal prosecutors separately them with hate crimes, alleging that the white men targeted Arbery and violated his civil rights because he was Black.
In the state murder trial, defence attorneys argued the defendants were justified in chasing Arbery because they suspected he had committed crimes in their neighbourhood.
Travis McMichael testified that he opened fire in self-defense after Arbery attacked him with fists and grabbed for his shotgun.