- Count one, malice murder,
we the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty.
- Travis McMichael, the man who fatally shot 25-year-old
Ahmaud Arbery was found guilty on all nine counts
including charges of malice murder, felony murder,
and aggravated assault.
His father, Greg McMichael,
was found not guilty of malice murder,
but guilty of all additional charges
including four courts of felony murder.
Their neighbor William Roddie Bryan,
who filmed the incident,
was found not guilty on two murder charges,
but convicted on three counts of felony murder.
The criminal trial began on November 5th over a year
after Arbery's death in February 2020
in a neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia.
Initially, nobody was charged in his death.
And then, the cellphone video shot
by another one of the defendants,
William Roddie Bryan, which was given to police,
you know, right after the shooting,
it is suddenly linked in May of 2020 all of a sudden,
this is a national news story.
You know, there's widespread outrage,
not just over what happened on that video,
but also, you know, why didn't we hear about this before?
Why did this not lead to charges?
The trial zeroed in on Travis McMichael
who fatally shot Arbery with a shotgun.
The prosecution argued
that the defendants had no grounds to chase
Arbery in their trucks in the first place.
- No one said, I was making a citizen's arrest today.
Not one single person used those words.
- The McMichaels, in particular,
grabbed their guns and they were armed
and they're saying that they threatened Arbery
with both their vehicles and those weapons.
And then they're saying that Travis McMichael
can't claim self-defense when he shoots
Arbery because they were,
you know, the aggressors in this situation.
The defense argued that their clients
were trying to make a citizen's arrest of Arbery.
And then they are arguing that Travis McMichael
did not want to kill
Arbery until that final moment when he believes that
Arbery is overpowering him
is the word that he used in this -- this struggle.
- And yes, at about 20 yards,
he raises the weapon because he knows Ahmaud Arbery
can be on him and he's hoping that by raising the weapon
he will deescalate the situation.
- Travis McMichael took the witness stand,
echoing his lawyer's argument
that he was acting in self-defense.
The main thing we heard from him was this idea
that he was worried about crime in the neighborhood,
that he had zeroed in on Arbery as this man
who had visited an under construction home several times
in the lead-up to the shooting, on the day of the shooting.
During cross examination,
the prosecution focused on discrepancies
between his testimony and his early statements to police,
arguing that he was the aggressor.
- Detective specifically asked you,
"Do you remember if he grabbed the shotgun at all?"
And your response was, "I wanna say he did,
but honestly, I cannot remember.
I mean, we were, me and him were face to face the entire time."
Do you remember saying that?
- Yes. - So you did shoot him
because he grabbed the barrel of your shotgun?
You shot him because he came around that corner
and you were right there
and you just pulled that trigger immediately?
- No, I was struck and he was -- we were face to face
and being struck and that's when I shot.
- Justice for Ahmaud!
- It's been really striking to see how race dominates
the conversation outside of the courtroom,
but inside court, we really haven't heard much direct,
you know, allegation of racism motivating the killing.
The prosecution has not brought in texts and social media posts
that they pointed to in a bond hearing last year
as evidence that these defendants
are prejudiced against Black people.
They did not end up asking Travis McMichael
who shot Arbery about this allegation
that he said the N word over Arbery's dead body.
- We have not come in the courtroom to protest,
I came to pray.
- The people who've been demonstrating outside
the courthouse definitely see this
as a matter of racial justice
and there have been demonstrators
who have been there throughout the whole trial
because they see this, really, as a platform to protest racism
and again, you know, see it as part of this broader movement
that has involved many other kind of high profile killings
of Black Americans.
- And let the word go forth all over the world
that a jury of 11 whites
and one Black in the deep south stood up in the courtroom
and said that Black lives do matter.