The judge in the trial of three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery declined to override decisions in jury selection Wednesday that left just one Black juror on the final panel of 12, though he agreed with prosecutors that 'there appears to be intentional discrimination.'
BRUNSWICK, GA. -- The judge in the trial of three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery declined to override decisions in jury selection Wednesday that left just one Black juror on the final panel of 12, though he agreed with prosecutors that "there appears to be intentional discrimination."
Race is a central issue in the trial over the 25-year-old Black man's death. Greg McMichael and his adult son, Travis McMichael, armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck after they spotted him running in their neighborhood. A neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan," joined the chase in his own truck and took cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery three times with a shotgun.
Laura Hogue, an attorney for Greg McMichael, denied that the Black panelists' race was considered in decisions to strike them from the jury pool. Dunikoski noted that many prospective jurors questioned in open court expressed strong opinions about the case, but all who remained in the pool from which the 12 jurors emerged said they could be impartial and base a verdict solely on the trial evidence.
In Glynn County, where Arbery was killed and the trial is being held, Black people account for nearly 27% of the population of 85,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The judge said 25% of the pool from which the final jury was chosen was Black. Before a final jury is seated, attorneys in a criminal case get to take turns eliminating a significant number of prospective jurors from the final pool, for virtually any reason. The one exception is over race or ethnicity.
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