Larger Jury Pool Sought in the Case of the Killing of Ahmaud Arbery
Both prosecutors and defense lawyers representing the three men facing federal hate crimes charges for the death of Ahmaud Arbery want a larger pool of potential jurors for a trial set for February.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports that attorneys want to select jurors from the entire Southern District of Georgia, a federal jurisdiction composed of 43 counties instead of strictly from Glynn County and its six neighboring counties, where the state murder trial was held. In a joint motion, the lawyers say they need to cast a wider net because of intense pretrial publicity and the recent, nationally televised trial.
Travis McMichael, his father Greg McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted of murder charges for the Feb. 23, 2020, killing of the 25-year-old, unarmed Arbery in Brunswick, Ga., in a case that attracted international attention.
It took nearly three weeks to seat a jury in the state case. National publicity from the trial likely means it’s likely that jurors in the seven-county Brunswick division may have formed “immutable opinions” about the case and cannot be fair and impartial according to the joint motion filed by the defense attorneys and prosecutors from the Justice Department’s civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s office in Savannah. Lawyers expect it could be even harder to find impartial jurors in the hate crimes case, according to the motion.
Newsweek reports that the prosecutors and defense attorneys asked the judge to approve a 14-page questionnaire to be sent to potential jurors at the same time they get their jury duty notices. They proposed using the questionnaires to identify any pool members that both sides agree are too biased to fairly hear the case before jury selection begins.
RELATED: Ahmaud Arbery Supporters Push For Conviction Of First Prosector After Guilty Verdicts
OPINION: Why The Ahmaud Arbery Case Verdict Was Clearly The Right One
A sentencing date on the state conviction has been scheduled for Jan. 7, the Brunswick News reports. All three men face mandatory terms of life in prison.
