Three Georgia men are set to show up to a Glynn County court Thursday morning in the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery, 25. Gregory McMichael, 64, and son Travis McMichael, 34, are both charged with murder and aggravated assault, though the younger defendant is being treated as the actual shooter. William “Roddie” Bryan, 50, is faces a count each of felony murder, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. Authorities said he used his vehicle in an attempt to help detain the alleged murder.
Arbery was shot and killed back on February 23 in Brunswick County, but arrests didn’t immediately happen. The first two prosecutors in the case dropped out, citing conflicts of interest centered around the fact that Gregory McMichael used to be an investigator for one of their offices.
The arrests happened shortly after video of the incident was leaked. Alan Tucker, an attorney who is not representing any of the defendants in the crimnal case, has said that the elder defendant helped release it in a bid to get “the truth” out about the incident. But that release backfire, with attorneys for Arbery’s family saying that the truth was that Arbery was murdered. Footage sparked an outcry. Arrests were made.
At the time of the shooting, Gregory McMichael allegedly told people they were trying to confront the man because they believed he was the suspect in a series of break-ins. Arbery’s family has said that he was only jogging in the area.
Attorneys for the McMichaels have been arguing against a rush to judgment.
“Given the daily onslaught over the last several weeks of new information — some credible, some not so credible — you must also know how much work there still is to be done,” attorney Laura Hogue, one of the lawyers who represents Gregory McMichael, said in a press conference Friday, according to CBS News. “But significantly, we know several other critically important facts. Those facts point to a very different narrative than the one that brings you all here today. Those facts will be revealed where all facts that matter are revealed: in a courtroom.”
Bryan attorney Kevin Gough has said that his client is not a “vigilante.”
[Mugshots via Glynn County]
