A defense attorney for one of the three men charged with Ahmaud Arbery’s killing has asked a judge not to allow any more high-profile civil rights leaders to attend the trial.
This week, the Rev. Al Sharpton joined Arbery’s parents, holding a prayer vigil outside the Glynn County Courthouse.
Attorney Kevin Gough represents William “Roddie” Bryan Jr.
“If we’re going to start a precedent, starting yesterday, where we’re going to bring high-profile members of the African-American community into the courtroom to sit with the family during the trial in the presence of the jury, I believe that’s intimidating and it’s an attempt to pressure,” said Gough. He added that it “could be consciously or unconsciously an attempt to pressure or influence the jury.”
The 12-member jury is nearly all-white, with just one Black juror.
On Wednesday, Sharpton shot down the defense’s claims that they were all acting in self-defense against 25-year-old Arbery, who was out jogging and unarmed at the time of the encounter.
“In order to have a defense, you have to have an offense. And what was Ahmaud’s offense? There was no robbery. There was no weapon. So what are you defending yourself against?” Sharpton queried.
Attorney Benjamin Crump made it clear that all eyes are on Georgia to deliver the correct verdict.
“What happens here in Brunswick, Georgia, in the trial in the killers of Ahmaud Arbery, is going to be a proclamation not only to Georgia, not only to America, but to the world, how far we have come to get equal justice in America for marginalized Black people,” Crump said.
