Episode 1667
Murder of Ahmaud Arbery
Thu, 2021-Nov-25 01:41 UTC
Length - 5:15
Direct Link
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With 375,207 views on Wednesday, 24 November 2021 our article of the day is Murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man, was murdered in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia, United States. Arbery had been pursued by three White residents – Travis McMichael and his father Gregory, who were armed and in one vehicle, and William "Roddie" Bryan, who was in another vehicle and videoed the pursuit and shooting. After Travis exited his vehicle and wielded a shotgun, Travis and Arbery engaged in a physical confrontation, during which Travis shot Arbery. Police interview transcripts detailed that Gregory initiated the chase after seeing Arbery running past his house, suspecting that Arbery had committed burglary or theft in Satilla Shores, but no evidence has emerged of Arbery doing so. According to police testimony, Bryan told police that he saw the chase and joined in independently, but was not sure if Arbery had done anything wrong. Arbery had entered an under-construction house with no doors five times in five months, including once shortly before the shooting. Security camera video from inside the house showed no evidence of theft. The Glynn County Police Department (GCPD) said the Brunswick District Attorney's Office advised them on February 23 to make no arrests, while the Brunswick District Attorney's Office denied that its top officeholders gave such advice. Waycross District Attorney George Barnhill twice advised the GCPD to make no arrests, once on February 24, before he was assigned to the case on February 27, and a second time on April 2 while announcing his intention to recuse himself from the case due to connections between his son and Gregory McMichael. Barnhill requested recusal on April 7, and the case was sent to the Atlantic District Attorney's Office on April 13. At the behest of Gregory McMichael, a local attorney provided a copy of the video of the shooting to local radio station WGIG, who posted it to their website on May 5. The video went viral, having also been posted on YouTube and Twitter. Within hours, Atlantic District Attorney Tom Durden said a grand jury would decide whether charges would be brought, and accepted an offer from Governor Brian Kemp to have the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) investigate the case. The GBI arrested the McMichaels on May 7 and Bryan on May 21, charging them with felony murder and other crimes. Meanwhile, the case was ultimately transferred to the Cobb County District Attorney's Office. On June 4, additional evidence was presented by the prosecutor to support the murder charges, including a statement to the GBI by William Bryan that Travis McMichael said "fucking nigger" as Arbery lay dying. A grand jury subsequently indicted each of the three men on charges of malice murder, felony murder (four counts), aggravated assault (two counts), false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. All three defendants were convicted with counts of felony murder among other charges including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony. Travis McMichael was found guilty of the most serious charge of malice murder. All three convicted now face a minimum of life imprisonment. The fact that the McMichaels were not arrested until 74 days after the killing, after the video went viral, sparked debates on racial profiling in the United States. Numerous religious leaders, politicians, athletes, and other celebrities condemned the incident. The GCPD and the Brunswick District Attorney's Office were nationally criticized for their handling of the case and the delayed arrests; Georgia Attorney General Christopher M. Carr formally requested the intervention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the case on May 10, 2020, which was granted the following day. In April 2021, all three men were indicted on federal charges of one count each of interference with rights (a hate crime) and one count each of attempted kidnapping, while the McMichaels were also charged with separate counts of using firearms during a crime of violence.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:41 UTC on Thursday, 25 November 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Murder of Ahmaud Arbery on Wikipedia.
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This has been Geraint Standard. Thank you for listening to popular Wiki of the Day.
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