Defending Ahmaud Arbery’s Murderers in a Federal Hate Trial Including One Witness

To prove three white men murdered Ahmaud Arbery Not motivated by racism, their defense team called out a witness: a random neighbor who didn’t know the trio.

Evelyn Cofer, a 48-year-old resident of Satilla Shores—Georgia neighborhood where 25-year-old black man chased and shot dead in 2020—Had been called on behalf of Greg McMichael.

Along with his son Travis (who fired the fatal shots) and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan (who joined the chase), McMichael was convicted in state court of murder. Prosecutors successfully convinced the jury that these men falsely suspected Arbery of theft and killed him in cold blood as he ran down the street.

Now, the trio face federal civil rights charges related to their rogue wariness. And Cofer appears to be an attempt by legal team Gregory McMichael to show his vigilance as a color blind person.

Her brief testimony focused on a white man she saw under the Fancy Bluff Bridge who was suspected of being a burglar in the area years ago. McMichael, a former police officer and investigator with the local district attorney, saw the same man a few months after Cofer — and called 911 to report him, his defense team said.

However, Cofer admitted that she didn’t know if the man McMichael saw was the same person she was under the bridge. She also noted that she did not know McMichael or his accomplices.

Cofer’s bizarre testimony, which allowed the defense to broadcast McMichael’s 911 calls to the jury, represents an attempt to push back against evidence that Gregory McMichael has expressed racist sentiments in the past.

There were no witnesses to testify against young McMichael or the young Bryan, and three defense teams settled their cases following Cofer’s testimony.

The men face a number of federal charges, including interfering with Arbery’s right to use public streets because of his race, and kidnapping. McMichaels, who initially agreed to plead guilty in a settlement that was ultimately dismissed by the judge, is also facing charges of using a firearm in the violent crime. All three men pleaded not guilty.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Arbery’s killing was described as a modern day lynching Under ‘s trick vigilance, which is the result of fatal assumptions made on the basis of “the color of his skin”. To prove its point, the government called 20 witnesses within four days to paint a picture of the trio’s racist behavior.

Witnesses included Travis McMichael’s former co-worker, who testified that he used a racial slur to describe a man she was dating; an old friend of Gregory McMichael, who said that the former cop was anti-Black when he took her and her daughter to the airport in 2015; an FBI agent talked about the trio’s famous online history; and investigators spoke to the men after Arbery’s death.

“The full moon brings out the worst of the barbarians I guess. I hate those bastards. They screw everything up,” Travis McMichael allegedly texted a friend about Black two months before he fatally shot Arbery.

Carol Sears, a New York real estate agent, testified about a negative comment Gregory McMichael made following the 2015 death of Julian Bond, a black civil rights activist and former Georgia state representative. .

“I said, I just heard he passed away and I feel terrible,” Sear told the jury. She said that McMichael reacted in indignation, saying, “Bad?! I wish he had been sent underground years ago. He’s nothing but trouble. Black people. It was just trouble.”

“Then he went on to talk about Negroes. It’s horrible and there’s such evil and evil for an entire human race,” Sears added.

FBI intelligence analyst Amy Vaughan also showed jurors evidence of Bryan’s racism, including text messages he allegedly sent after learning his daughter was dating a man. only a few days before Arbery was murdered.

“She has her one [n-word] The current. I’ve been calling it for a while. No wonder,” Bryan is said to have talked about the situation to another person later that day. In another message, Vaughan said Wednesday Bryan called his daughter “Socialopath” for her dating options.

Defense attorneys for the trio told jurors during the opening arguments that their clients may have something to do with internet history, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their actions are justified. motivated by racial stereotypes. In the state trial, defense teams argued that the case was simply a wrongful citizen’s arrest.

The federal court closing arguments will begin Monday morning.