Trial in Ahmaud Arbery's death: closing arguments, verdicts and reactions

Glynn County Courthouse, the site of the trial where three men were convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery. (Ebyabe/WIkiCommons)

The trial for the three men that killed Ahmaud Arbery concluded with felony murder convictions for all three on Wednesday. It was a 14-day trial concluded with 11 hours of jury deliberations over a two-day span. 

“These defendants made assumptions,” said Linda Dunikoski, senior assistant District Attorney who gave the closing arguments.  “And they made their decision to attack Ahmaud Arbery because he was a Black man running down the street.”

Defense attorneys Jason Sheffield and Laura Hogue, each leaned on the McMichaels protection of their community as motive to pursue Ahmaud Arbery. 

Tension rose significantly during Hogue’s closing arguments as she placed responsibility on Arbery. “Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim does not reflect the choices he made...in his Khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails,” said Hogue, who is Greg McMichael’s attorney. 

Kevin Gough, defense to William “Roddie '' Bryan, sought to stratify from the codefendants. Gough said that Bryan had no knowledge of the guns or the McMichaels’ intentions before the actions that led to Arbery’s death. Gough also pointed out that Bryan willfully submitted the video evidence used at trial. 

The state charged each man with nine felony counts: one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal intent to commit felony. 

Travis McMichael, the man who pulled the trigger, was found guilty on all counts. His father, Greg McMichael, was found guilty on all counts except malice murder. 

Roddie Bryan, their neighbor, was found guilty of six counts: three counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony. 

At the reading of Travis McMichael’s guilty verdicts, Ahmaud’s father Marcus Arbery celebrated audibly in the gallery of the courtroom and was promptly removed. His celebration would be the first of many grateful reactions to the verdict. 

Longtime civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton sat with Arbery’s family during the trial and said he prepared the family for the worst result. 

But when the guilty verdicts came back, “the tears I had were that finally we got something for one of these families,” said Sharpton. He remarked that he had seen “not guilty” be the verdict in similar circumstances. 

Wanda Cooper-Jones, mother of Ahmaud Arbery, said she was excited when she heard the verdicts. “It was like a dream come true. Yesterday was a big, big victory for my family and I,” said Cooper-Jones in an interview with CBS.