I live here. This is all about the defense and DA trying to cloudy the obvious. Nothing English said or did has any bearing. A citizens arrest does not involve killing someone.
Though the 3 charged with AA's murder bear full responsibility for his death, I disagree that nothing English said or did had any bearing.
1. He knew leaving his construction site wide open was problematic, and has said so. He's fortunate that none of the many peeps wandering in, including children, were hurt while on site.
2. It only took one occasion of an UBM entering his site, in October 2019, for English to accept Perez's offer to go to the site "within seconds" of E alerting him of a trespasser. Having Perez respond rather than calling LE was grossly inappropriate, IMO. What did English think would happen if an armed Perez encountered an UBM on his construction site?
3. Although Robert Lee Rash's 2/11 incident report plainly states that English had more than once told him nothing had been taken by the UBM, it's still unknown what English did or didn't tell his neighbors about the $2k worth theft of his fishing gear, and any suspicions he had about the thief. If he even suggested the UBM might be the thief, IMO he materially contributed to the neighborhood's collective focus on the UBM.
4. English has tried to distance himself from what was posted on the hood's FB page, and what seems increasingly likely was a coordinated effort to "catch" the UBM seen on E's videos. I'm willing to bet evidence will be found on the FB page and perhaps even on his phone that English was aware of at least some of what his neighbors were discussing.
And that he did not object.
Consider- we know English was active on the FB page. He knew Perez had posted the UBM videos there. And did not object. And we know how English responded on the FB page about an "incident" on Dec 18, 2019.
First post:
"Suspicious old silver Pontiac casing the house across the street 220 Satilla Dr. From the looks of the car I don't think there (sic) house shopping if you know what I mean."
A neighbor, on his way out of the hood, turns around to try to get a tag number. The same or another person reports on the car's movements and the fact no one got out of the car. Another person drives around the neighborhood looking for the car but doesn't see it.
Though his name is redacted, it's obviously English who chimes in: "this is our house that's under construction. Thanks for posting!"
Link:
A look at the Satilla Shores Facebook group mentioned in the Ahmaud Arbery investigation
Nothing known suggests English felt any concern his neighbors were assigning blame for multiple crimes to the UBM in his videos. Why DIDN'T he have a problem with that?
In fact, why do you suppose English was so interested in catching just that one person of many seen on his videos? A person who he admitted to LE hadn't taken anything, hadn't vandalized anything, had done nothing other than look around while there?
5. What English could have done, but didn't, was to tell Perez no thanks, that LE could and should handle the situation. Saying yes to Perez opened the door to vigilantism, imo. And to laying the groundwork for just that: no Perez, no posting of the videos on FB.
And if the videos somehow were posted anyway, then what English should have done, but didn't, was to tell his posse- gathering neighbors thanks but no thanks and to chill out, the UBM was only one of many peeps who had been on his property, and he hadn't committed any crime. IMO.
Instead, IMO, English implicitly gave permission to a gathering posse to act on his behalf to "defend" his property. There isn't any legal liability there, but there sure is some degree of moral culpability. IMO.
