Two of the defendants in the Ahmaud Arbery murder case are scheduled for court Thursday morning. You can watch it in the player above at 10 a.m. ET.
Gregory McMichael, 64, son Travis McMichael, 34, and neighbor William Bryan, 50, are accused of chasing down the victim in a tragic confrontation on Feb. 23 in Brunswick, Georgia.
[Warning: The video is disturbing.]
The McMichaels are petitioning the court for a bond. Bail was initially denied by the judge in July.
At the time of the killing, Gregory McMichael allegedly told police that they believed Arbery was involved in several burglaries in the area. But there was only one reported burglary in the area in recent weeks: a January 1 alleged theft in which a gun was stolen from a pickup truck outside Travis McMichael’s home.
911 audio from shortly before the shooting showed a caller reporting a black man in a white T-shirt at a nearby house under construction.
The operator asked if the subject was breaking into it.
“No, it’s all open, it’s under construction,” he said. “And he is running right now. There he goes right now.”
Arbery’s family said he was jogging. The owner of the home in question, Larry English, said there he never had anything stolen from the property.
Race also infuses the case. The defendants are all white. Arbery was black. Bryan said Travis McMichael called the victim a “fucking n****r” after the shooting and before the police arrived, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Richard Dial testified in a June 4 hearing.
The McMichaels were denied bond. Bryan’s attorney Kevin Gough recently asked for the chance to post bail, arguing the defendant posted no threat of fleeing, no significant danger to anyone, no significant risk of committing any felony pending trail, and no significant risk of getting in the way of the investigation (including intimidating witnesses). He has maintained his client’s innocence.
Lawyers for the McMichaels also assert their clients are not guilty.
“Greg McMichael did not commit murder,” the elder McMichael’s attorney Franklin Hogue said in May, according to NPR. “Greg McMichael is not a party to the crime of murder.” Co-counsel and wife Laura Hogue said that not all of the facts of the case had been made public.
The defendants face charges of malice murder, felony murder (with underlying charges of aggravated assault), false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony.
[Mugshots via Glynn County; from top left, counter-clockwise: Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, William Bryan]