The jury in the trial of the three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery last February began deliberations Tuesday. This development follows closing arguments that took up most of Monday and carried into Tuesday. The video above shows clips from closing arguments.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski got the first word Monday and the last word on Tuesday morning, as the prosecution’s burden of proof in the case is beyond a reasonable doubt. She described Arbery as “under attack” on the day of his death.
“They shot and killed him, not because he was a threat to them but because he wouldn’t stop and talk to them,” Dunikoski said Monday. “And they were going to make him, absolutely make him stop.”
In his closing arguments, the attorney for Travis McMichael, the man accused of actually shooting Arbery, gave a different account of how he acted in the moments before his death. McMichael, his father Greg, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are all facing murder charges.
“Is there any question that Ahmaud Arbery had his hands on this firearm? Any question at all,” Jason Sheffield asked the jury Monday. “Travis in his interview told you, ‘I was under shock. I was under stress. I don’t know if he had his hand on the gun. I think he did. I think he did. I think he had my shirt. I think he was punching me.’”
Just like the recent trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the concept of self-defense came up in closing arguments. Attorneys for the defendants argued they were trying to perform a lawful citizen’s arrest for an alleged burglary, and only killed Arbery out of self-defense when Arbery resisted.
Before jury deliberations began in the Arbery slaying trial Tuesday, Dunikoski disagreed.
“You can’t make a citizen’s arrest because someone’s running down the street and you have no idea what they did wrong,” she said.
“If they were not conducting a lawful citizen’s arrest you do not have to consider, you still may if you want to, but you don’t really have to consider self-defense,” Dunikoski said. “If it’s not a lawful citizen’s arrest then they were the first unjustified aggressors and they were committing felonies against Mr. Arbery and therefore they don’t get to claim self-defense.”
