(11/19/21): Hours after a suspect in the trial of three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery testified that he did not threaten the suspect in any way, the defense rested their case Thursday. They had called just seven witnesses over a couple days, compared to the 23 witnesses who testified for the prosecution over eight days.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley scheduled closing arguments for Monday.
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Original Story (11/18/21): Possibly the most notable development so far in the trial of three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery came Thursday when one suspect testified that he was not threatened in any way before the shooting. The development occurred during Travis McMichael’s second day on the stand, clips of which are shown in the video above. He, his father Greg, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are all charged with murder.
During cross examination, Travis McMichael said he was “under the impression” that Arbery could be a threat because he was running straight at him. Cellphone video from the shooting shows Arbery running around the back of McMichael’s pickup truck after he first points the shotgun while standing next to the open driver’s side door.
“So you didn’t shoot him because he grabbed the barrel of your shotgun,” prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said. “You shot him because he came around that corner and you were right there and you just pulled the trigger immediately.” McMichael responded saying, “We were face to face, I’m being struck and that’s when I shot.”
As the Arbery suspect continued his testimony, two men who have already been convicted celebrated major legal wins Thursday. Reaction to the legal wins are also pictured in the video above. In New York, two of the men convicted of assassinating Malcolm X back in 1965 were exonerated. Those two men are Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam. A renewed investigation into the killing found neither of the two were involved, and authorities withheld some of what they knew at the time.
“I’m an 82-year-old man who was victimized by the criminal justice system. I do not know how many more years of creative activity I have,” Aziz said Thursday. “However, I hope the same system that was responsible for this travesty of justice also takes responsibility for the immeasurable harm caused to me during the last 55 or 56 years.”
In Oklahoma, Gov. Ken Stitt (R-OK) commuted the death sentence of Julius Jones just hours before he was set to be put to death. Jones will instead serve life in prison. In a news release, Gov. Stitt said he made the decision “after prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case.”
Jones was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die for the 1999 shooting death of a businessman during a carjacking. His scheduled execution drew widespread protests, with many doubting his guilt. Jones has maintained he was framed by the actual killer, a high school friend and former co-defendant who was a key witness against him in his trial.