Ahmaud Arbery’s Family Weighs In On Nearly All-White Jury, Prosecutors Accuse Defense Team of Subjecting Potential Black Jurors to More Scrutiny: ‘Intentional Discrimination’
Prosecutors also slammed the defense, who reportedly struck 11 potential Black jurors from the final jury pool of 48 during an unusual 11-day process.
Judge Walmsley stated that defense attorneys were justified in their strikes and that they had nothing to do with either race or ethnicity.
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Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski during her opening statement
The defense attorneys said they struck jury pool members who were biased against the defendants, such as one woman who during the voir dire process said that the defendants “hunted Ahmaud down and killed him like an animal.” Another Black woman in the pool said when questioned, “No one needs to have their life taken. I believe it was wrong.”
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski claimed that defense attorneys were “digging into” Black potential jurors’ personal lives and background — something white potential white jurors were not subjected to.
Defense attorney Bob Rubin representing defendant Travis McMichael said his client acted in self-defense.
Dunikoski, who was trying to get Walmsley to restore some of the dismissed Black members back into the jury pool, told the court on Wednesday that Black potential jury members were asked “Well, have your kids seen it? And what did you talk to your children about? And how did you get into that?” according to the news station. However, their white counterparts were not asked those types of questions.
Attorney Laura Hogue, who represents Greg McMichael, one of the men accused of killing Arbery, confirmed that they were questioning Black jurors more thoroughly because of the racial element of the case.
“That argument pretends as if the reality is not what it is,” Hogue told the judge in response Dunikoski. Hogue went on to add, “So the idea that we would be questioning jurors who made very clear statements about their opinions about this case, and the role that race played in this case, those are the folks that we’re going to do the deep dive with. As we did with a number of white jurors who had strong opinions about race and the role that race played in this case."