6:00 PM:
4:40 PM:
2:30 PM:
Rubin: #AhmaudArbery says nothing to them. He hears Travis McMichael say, We called the police. Bolts back the other way. Travis gets out like, What the heck? We want to talk to this guy. Sees Arbery down the street “trying to get into Roddie Bryan’s truck.” He doesn’t know the black Silverado truck or whose it is. He expects to hear a gunshot because “he thinks #AhmaudArbery is armed like he pretended to be on the 11th,” and this guy whose name he doesn’t know will try to take this guy’s truck.
Rubin: Before the 1st shot is fired they called the police; there was no intent to murder. Travis has his gun for protection.
“This guy has run at him, acted bizarrely, not said a word, now Ahmaud Arbery is running back. Travis’s training taught him to show a weapon to de-escalate violence,” says Rubin.
1:45 PM:
Rubin: Travis McMichael, 35, unmarried, father. In Coast Guard from 2007-2016. He was a boarding officer authorized to do arrests and searches, to use his weapon when appropriate. He had federal law enforcement training.
The video you saw earlier doesn’t begin to tell the whole story; it’s like looking through a knothole but you can’t see the whole outfield. The story begins in 2019; Satilla Shores was on edge b/c of a rise in property crimes. Behaviors began to change.
11:00 AM:
Feb 23, 2020 Greg McMichael sees #AhmaudArbery “hauling ass” down the street. “This is driveway decision #1. He’s in his driveway working on boat cushions; has no idea if Arbery’s been in that house...runs inside, gets his gun...Greg McMichael assumes the worst”
Roddie Bryan sees Mr #AhmaudArbery running away from Travis McMichael’s white pickup, makes an assumption, no idea what’s happening, joins in chasing down Mr. Arbery.
State describes the chase of #AhmaudArbery, who ignored the men trying to stop him. He runs off. Turns and runs another way. Truck pulled out to try to cut him off and run him into the ditch. “Mr. Arbery is under attack by all three of these men.”
State says this brings us to the Roddie Bryan video. It’s longer than any anyone’s already seen. “He was running from all 3 defendants for 5 minutes.” As she readies to show video of #AhmaudArbery’s killing, Marcus Arbery leaves the courtroom, mumbles “I don’t want to see this.”
9:52 AM:
9:30 AM: Eleven jurors are seated in the box right now, not four. Wanda Cooper Jones and Lee Merritt, her attorney, arrived in the courtroom at around 9:35. Marcus Arbery, Sr., also arrived with another man.
FRIDAY, 11.5.2021: “Just breathe.” That’s what a man told a woman as the pair settled into the courtroom row reserved for family of defendants Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and Roddie Bryan. People are gathering in the courtroom and auxiliary locations in the Glynn County courthouse as the trial gets underway in earnest. The jurors’ swearing-in, and opening statements, come today.