Consider This from NPR - The Trial For The Killing Of Ahmaud Arbery

Episode Date: October 18, 2021

One of the killings that sparked racial justice protests last year is again in the national spotlight, with a trial that begins this week in Brunswick, Ga. Three white men are accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man shot and killed as he was jogging down a residential street. NPR correspondent Debbie Elliott reports on the defendants' expected arguments and the evidence stacked against them in a trial that serves as yet another test case for racial justice. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail]. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward, working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. Nine campuses, one purpose. Creating tomorrow, today. More at iu.edu. Thea Wanda Brooks says it was common for her nephew, Ahmaud Arbery, to run through a quiet subdivision a few miles from where he lived near Brunswick on the Georgia coast. Ahmaud really ran like all over Brunswick. This was just a good place, we thought, you know, because it was a neighborhood off the highway. You know, he would jog through his neighborhood and then cross the highway.

This neighborhood, Satilla Shores, is where Arbery was shot and killed on February 23, 2020. This is where he last was shot and killed on February 23, 2020. This is where he last laid to rest. This is where it was, right here. Some residents had grown suspicious of Arbery after they say they saw him repeatedly enter a new home construction site. They suspected him of recent break-ins, although police had not linked him to any. Hey, he's sitting on the back of the school door. Okay. him of recent break-ins, although police had not linked him to any.

That's Travis McMichael on a 911 call just but wants to know, what was Arbery allegedly doing wrong? Then there's a second 911 call from Travis's father, Gregory McMichael. It's a black male running down the street. So tell us where, where, where at, so tell us yours. I don't know what street we're on. Stop, stop that. Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! And seconds later, three shotgun blasts can be heard.

Thea Wanda Brooks says she often imagines what those last moments were like for her nephew as he was trapped and fighting for his life. Now, as jury selection begins for the murder trial, Brooks is bracing herself to hear the defense argue the shooting was justified to stop suspected neighborhood theft. And even if you steal something, nobody has the decision to make as far as being the judge, the jury, and the executioner. Consider this. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery drew the nation's attention and helped fuel the protests for racial justice last year. And now this trial is yet another test case to see how those calls for justice will be answered. From NPR, I'm Adi Cornish. It's Monday, October 18th.

This message comes from NPR sponsor Smartwool, maker of versatile merino wool base layers for all-day comfort. They're the first layer you'll want to put on and the last layer you'll want to take off. Shop Smartwool base layers, socks, and accessories at smartwool.com. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR, and we heard from two of the defendants at the beginning of the episode, Travis McMichael, who shot Ahmaud Arbery, and his father, Gregory McMichael, who says he was assisting with a, quote, citizen's arrest. There's a third defendant, also accused of murder, William Roddy Bryan, a family friend who filmed the shooting on his phone.

And it's likely only because of that recording that we're talking about this case right now, because this story didn't become national news until three months after Arbery was killed. Tonight, video has surfaced of an African-American man being chased down and killed. His family says he was just out jogging. This cell phone video captures the final moments of Ahmaud Arbery's life while he was jogging through this Brunswick, Georgia neighborhood in February. Arbery was confronted. I was heartbroken to see my friend being hunted down and killed like some animal. This is Arbery's friend Akeem Baker describing what it was like to watch the video.

Now, not a lot happened with this case until this cell phone footage was released on social media, which is one of the big points of scrutiny for how Glynn County officials have handled it. The former district attorney now faces charges that she tried to shield the McMichaels from prosecution. And several judges and prosecutors have recused themselves from the case. NPR correspondent Deb Elliott will be following the trial in the coming weeks,

and she takes the story from here. It took nearly three months before arrests were made after mounting public pressure and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation taking the case from Glynn County Police. I'm going to get some stuff for you to clean up with, all right, sir? This body cam video shows police treating Travis McMichael with great care and deference as he stood literally with blood on his hands while Arbery lay in the street. That's okay. Do you have any other weapons or anything on you? Just that one.

Okay. If you were to stop. That's fine. That's fine. Like I said, just take a breath. They were given a courtesy that the normal citizen would not have received. Pastor John Perry was president of the local NAACP when Arbery was killed. Particularly in the black community, if you were found to have killed someone, you know, you're getting handcuffed and you're getting booked. Perry is running for mayor of Brunswick in the aftermath of Arbery's killing, he's part of a crowded field

that reflects a wider political awakening. He says this case is a prime example of why many black citizens see the justice system as tainted. Some people call it the good old boy system. I call it relationships of privilege. You have people who ascend to places of power and they have established relationships and those established relationships are looked out for in a way that other people are not looked out for. Perry and others, including federal prosecutors, say Arbery's killing was racially motivated, that he was profiled as a black man running through a predominantly white neighborhood. Defense lawyers will reject that argument at trial. Attorney Robert Rubin represents the gunman, Travis McMichael.

There's a man in the neighborhood who doesn't belong in the neighborhood, not because he's black. He doesn't belong in the neighborhood because he's at least trespassing in a house he doesn't belong in. Rubin argues that suspicion amounts to probable cause under Georgia's citizen's arrest law and that the McMichaels were simply trying to detain Arbery until police got there. But when Arbery resisted, he says, Travis McMichael acted in self-defense. They're literally locked together. Mr. Arbery has one hand on the gun and one hand he's punching Travis in the head. And Travis knows if I lose possession of this gun, I'm dead. And so he fires the gun.

Mr. Arbery does not stop coming at him. And eventually he kills Mr. Arbery. The struggle was captured on cell phone video by the third suspect, William Bryan, who goes by the name Roddy. Without Roddy Bryan, there would be no case. Kevin Goff is Bryan's lawyer. Bryan was in the second pickup truck chasing Arbery. Goff says his client had nothing to do with the shooting

and has cooperated fully with the investigation. He says it's wrong to cast this case in light of the nation's broader struggle for equal justice. In some ways, it feels like these folks are being pursued, punished, prosecuted, however you want to describe it, in a sense or a way of atoning for the sins of law enforcement, real or perceived, in the administration of justice. And that's unfortunate. Many do see this trial in the context of other prominent racial justice cases, which have had a mixed bag of verdicts. Ahmaud Arbery has yet another name on a list that includes Trayvon Martin, Walter Scott, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. And historically, the hundreds who came before, says Bobby Henderson, co-founder of A Better Glen,

a grassroots group formed last year in response to Arbery's killing. Here we are in the South and we witnessed a lynching. How far are we from 1892? That's what's on the line. Standing on the steps of the historic Glynn County Courthouse, Henderson says for too long places like this did not afford justice to people like him. He sees this case as a test of whether that has changed. Here we are again with another opportunity to, can we sustain any of this momentum toward true equity, equality, and justice? Or are we just stuck in a cycle of some people get it and some people don't? It depends. The American Constitution should not be a parchment of it depends. His group has worked to organize people and voters and has lobbied for policy changes and investigations.

And in the last year, the needle has moved. The district attorney who failed to investigate Arbery's killing was voted out of office and is now under indictment for her handling of the case, the Georgia legislature repealed the state's citizen's arrest law and passed new hate crimes legislation. And Glynn County has a new police chief, the first black man to lead the department. Henderson says those are steps toward a more inclusive government. We think that that is a direct reflection on the amount of work that we've done to get the people to realize their own power and where they can utilize their power in order to create their own good.

Ahmaud Arbery's aunt, Theowanza Brooks, recognizes the change that has come in her nephew's name. A difference has been made since his death. We learned that when we come together collectively as a community, things change. And I think that this tragedy has opened up the eyes of a lot of people. That was reporting from NPR correspondent Debbie Elliott. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Adi Cornish.