For Monday, Nov. 22nd:
Veronica Waters
@MissVWaters
·
35m
Good morning! They're convened in the #AhmaudArbery shooting case. Judge Walmsley is going over the final jury charges with attorneys. Remember, Friday, the judge was set to tell jurors citizen's arrests must happen at/immediately after the time of the alleged crime.
Bob Rubin said then the judge had "gutted" their case, as they've built it on probable cause & arguing the McMichaels had the right to chase #AhmaudArbery. This jury charge would say the arrest must be at the alleged misdemeanor or in a subsequent chase if it's a felony
Kevin Gough says he's made a motion to sever his case, as evidence developed during Travis McMichael's testimony has made Roddie Bryan's defense antagonistic, along with the "vigilante" evidence presented against McMichael.
State argues there's no sufficient prejudice alleged in any of Gough's motion's points. ADA Ollivierre says she can cite case law if needed. Judge says the motion's untimely & most of this has been addressed previously, but he wants to hear from the State
ADA Larissa Ollivierre is arguing against Gough's motion to sever Roddie Bryan's case from that of the McMichaels.
Leigh McMichael's in court with a woman she calls a former coworker/friend, and a man. #AhmaudArbery's mom Wanda Cooper-Jones walked in during the talk about Kevin Gough's motion for severance. A pool reporter says she seemed upset.
Attorney Lee Merritt is with Wanda Cooper-Jones. Bryan's fiancee Amy Elrod & another woman who's always refused to identify herself when she's in the courtroom are also in the row reserved for the defendants' supporters.
Gough says he's withdrawing the charge he submitted on "duty to inquire." He says, "I hope that will satisfy the McMichael defendants. I guess sometimes people don't want help." He laughs, sits.
Judge is removing the citizen's arrest "duty to inquire" from the draft jury charge. State says it's ready to proceed. Judge says, "Let's go get the panel." Jason Sheffield says after the State's done they'll need 10 minutes to set up without the jury present.
ADA Linda Dunikoski begins the State's closing argument. "All three of these defendants made assumptions about what was going on that day, and made their decision in their driveways to attack #AhmaudArbery because he was a Black man running down the street."
State: "Mr. #AhmaudArbery was under attack. They committed 4 felonies, and then they shot and killed him--not because he was a threat to them, but because he wouldn't stop and talk to them."
State: If you are the initial unjustified aggressor, you don't get to claim self-defense. If you're committing a felony against somebody, you don't get to claim self-defense. If you provoke someone so they attack you, you don't get to claim self-defense.
State: In order to make a citizen's arrest, the offense has to be committed in the private citizen's presence. Do we have that here? No.
State: We don't want to you to think we're not acknowledging what #AhmaudArbery was doing--going onto someone's private property, wandering around, then leave. On video, never took anything, never damaged anything.
State: Is #AhmaudArbery this giant burglar who happened to never showed up with a bag or means to steal, or is he a looky-loo? He shouldn't be in there, okay, but it's trespass. And on Feb 23 none of the defendants knew he'd been in there--and that's all he did that day
State: Their own words to the police prove they don't know what #AhmaudArbery's done, why he's out there running. No immediate knowledge. They have speculation because he's running down the street. Immediate knowledge is REQUIRED under citizen's arrest
link:
https://twitter.com/MissVWaters