2:30 PM: Greg McMichael told Det. Marcy that he told Ahmaud Arbery, Stop, we want to talk to you, and he may’ve told him “to get on the ground or whatever. But that didn’t work--he wasn’t having none of that.” McMichael didn’t indicate they planned to just go home if Arbery “wasn’t having none of that.” GM told Det. Marcy,
McMichael: “Don’t take a rocket surgeon to know that the guy was cornered. He was cornered like a...like a...like a rat. That was his reaction.”
Detective Marcy says he never saw #AhmaudArbery take or steal anything. ATA Dunikoski freezes the photo here and says Not to be crude, but what is he doing here? Marcy: Grabbing the front of his shorts. @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/Q5PpDfDAge
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
12:30 PM: McMichael talks about crimes he suspects Ahmaud Arbery committed, but offers no details. Talked about break-ins, burglaries, entering autos. State asked Det. Marcy to look at all Satilla Shores 911 calls 1.1.2019-2.23.2020. How many? Defense objects--hearsay, not his calls.
Outside the jury’s presence, arguments took place.
State says outside jury's & Marcy's presences that it's entitled to rebut Greg McMichael's claims that there was "all this crime" and that #AhmaudArbery was caught every 3rd or 4th night committing crimes. "The reality is, that is not the case whatsoever!" @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/kaGvxy5FCa
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
The defense contends the records should be inadmissible; what an investigator determined about a report or statement is an opinion, so it’s hearsay, they argue. Laura Hogue says if they don’t get each officer to testify to each investigation, there isn’t a good way to let the records in as evidence. The judge overrules it and says the policeman can testify using police records which he’d normally use in his course of work.
Kevin Gough is upset about some testimony that’s been elicited. He wants to move for mistrial: “The only thing I’d objected to w/him was Greg McMichael’s testimony about his relationship to Bryan! That’s a problem.” It goes back to severance issue, he explains. The State has conspiracy theories referencing communication between these men before and after; now, Greg McMichael’s version about his relationship with Roddie Bryan. And what about the McMichael jail call about Bryan being an ally hanging out there? I can’t cross-examine him about any of that!, Gough exclaims.
He goes on, “We all know we have another issue with Roddie Bryan’s fiancee! Everybody knows there is no relationship between Greg McMichael & Roddie Bryan because Greg McMichael is not welcome in the Bryan residence. Not because of anything that happened between them, but because of issues with the fiancee & her family.”
The judge’s expression is...
Gough: They're putting me in a box where Roddie Bryan can't get a fair trial w/o cross-examining Greg McMichael. If GM testifies, no problem, but if not, then how do I defend Bryan agnst these charges? Move for mistrial, reserve right to move for severance #AhmaudArbery @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/mexmgW4APF
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
12:15 PM: After two shots were fired, Greg McMichael said he eased himself out of the truck because he’d had a hip replacement. He checked Ahmaud Arbery for a weapon. He stated he did not have his cell phone; he used his son’s phone to call 911.
McMichael told the investigator that he’d hollered, “Stop! I’ll blow your fucking head off!” to Arbery, “to convey to this guy that we were not playing.”
Greg McMichael’s intent, he told Det. Marcy, was “to hold” Arbery if he had stopped and “call county police...to check him out.” He didn’t say why, or use words “citizen’s arrest.”
McMichael said he had no doubt who the guy was, but “The thing that was doubtful--not doubtful but a driving factor in my mind--was my son had a missing pistol...I’m pretty certain this guy--don’t know for a fact, no reason to think he did it [but] he’s been doing this crap over & over.”
11:55 AM:
On Holmes Rd., Greg McMichael tells Det. Marcy he's in the back of the truck with his .357: "I said, 'Stop! I'll blow your fucking head off!' I was trying to convey to this guy that we were not playing." #AhmaudArbery @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/XghCBXL9SI
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
11:15 AM: Glynn County Police Investigator Parker Marcy testifies. He was off work the day of the shooting, but volunteered to come in and work. He was at GCPD headquarters when Travis McMichael came in, covered in blood and wearing the blood-stained clothes. They took photos before they allowed him to clean up and change. He had no injuries and did not ask for medical attention.
Det. Marcy says Travis McMichael did not have any physical injuries or ask for medical attention. "He asked for an alcohol swab. That was it." #AhmaudArbery @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/fc5neoaMvj
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
Greg McMichael came in and Marcy interviewed him.
Greg McMichael told Marcy he’d been working on boat cushions with glue and padding in his driveway, “I look up and see this guy hauling ass...I’m not talking about a jog, I’m talking about a haul-ass like something’s chasing him.” He said he’d seen “two to three” videos neighbor Diego Perez had shown him of the guy “breaking into or being or wandering around into this house” under construction.
Greg McMichael: “I’m thinking he’s either done something to somebody, somebody’s chasing him, maybe somebody drove up, found him in their house or drove up to that particular house he likes to go in over & over.” Did he say he saw Ahmaud Arbery commit a crime that day? the State wants to know. Marcy: No.
Det. Marcy asked McMichael if the neighbor’s video showed Arbery stealing. McMichael replied, “You know, not that I recall. I don’t think the guy has actually stolen anything out of there, or if he did it was early in this process, but he keeps going back over and over.”
He described the streets of the chase and how he kept yelling, “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!” at Arbery. He says when Arbery “put it in high gear,” he directed his son Travis, “Cut him off! Cut him off! Cut him off!”
Greg McMichael describes chase going up Burford. When #AhmaudArbery was on left side of truck, GM yelled "Stop, stop, stop, stop!" Said Arbery "put it in high gear" and GM said, "Cut him off! Cut him off! Cut him off!" @wsbradio
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
Greg McMichael told the man, "This ain't no shuffler. This guy's an asshole." ADA Dunikoski: How far away were you from the dead body of #AhmaudArbery when he called him an asshole? Ofc. Brandeberry: 20 or 30 feet. @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/V12hrkQZS9
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 10, 2021
10:55 AM: Ofc. Brandeberry’s testimony is completed. The State took him through portions of his interview with Greg McMichael, which he noted early on was difficult to get a constant narrative from because they were frequently interrupted.
Brandeberry read how Greg McMichael, whom he noted had blood on his hand,, told him when he saw Ahmaud Arbery run by, he was “hauling ass down the street. I’m talking about dead run. He’s not jogging.” McMichael claimed “the guy was breaking into a house over there. Nobody could ever catch him.”
Greg McMichael said the guy, whom he described, was seen going into a house two or three times.
“I haul ass into my bedroom to get my .357 Magnum,” he told the officer. “Don’t know if the guy’s armed ‘cause the other night the guy stuck his hands down his pants. I don’t take any chances.”
Brandeberry describes Greg McMichael as “pretty amped up.” McMichael described the path they’d taken chasing the man “running down the damn road,” and how he got out of the kid seat in the truck to jump into the pickup bed at some point.
McMichael said he yelled, “Stop, stop, stop! I want to talk to you!” When they got closer, Greg yelled, “Stop, goddammit!”
Ofc. Brandeberry says Greg McMichael told him there were two shots: “I saw ‘em, yeah. In fact, if, to be perfectly honest with you, if I could’ve got a shot at the guy I’da shot him myself ‘cause he was that violently--” Brandeberry said at that point, the pair were interrupted again, which he says happened a lot that day. The man talking to Greg McMichael was not law enforcement. McMichael was never told to sit on a curb, in a patrol car, or was ever isolated from anyone on the scene.
The man, who was not in law enforcement, asked Greg McMichael if he was OK. He said he was fine. Is Travis OK?, the man asked. “He’s upset as hell,” said GM. They skip ahead in transcript: “I couldn’t tell if it’s one on him or not, but he attacked my son.”
Brandeberry testified that he doesn’t know how, but Greg McMichael somehow got his cell phone and started making phone calls at the scene.
Ofc. Brandeberry says McMichael never said “the guy,” Ahmaud Arbery, had committed any crime that day. He never said the words “burglary, trespass, citizen’s arrest, or detain.”
Ofc. Brandeberry saw an officer photographing Travis McMichael, who had #AhmaudArbery's blood on him and blood spatter on his face. Greg McMichael attorney Frank Hogue is now doing cross-examination. @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/eXICNHRJLh
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
9:40 AM: The first witness of the day, the State’s fourth, is another officer who responded to the deadly shooting scene in Satilla Shores. Glynn County Police Ofc. Jeff Brandeberry was tasked with interviewing Greg McMichael that day. Again, the full bodycam is not being shown to the jury and won’t go back with them as evidence. Brandeberry will read from transcripts, sections both the prosecution and defense have agreed upon ahead of time.
On the stand in the #AhmaudArbery shooting case: Glynn County Police Officer Jeff Brandeberry. State asks him if he's ever testified before. He says, "Not with a jury, no, ma'am. Certainly not on TV," he smiles. The courtroom laughs. @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/jn51yT18oV
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) November 9, 2021
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