6:00 pm: Court is adjourned for the day. Individual questioning of the jurors continued with brief breaks this afternoon.
From pool reports, it appears that these are the jurors who are still in the pool as of right now: Nos. 39, 41, 44, 52, 62, 72, 76, and 79.
Juror #76 appears to be a white man in his 60s. He’s a recent retiree from the automotive industry and a widower. He has served on a jury as a foreperson and was able to reach a verdict in Michigan, which he said was “very difficult.” He’s lived in Glynn County for several months and owns two guns.
A potential witness cuts his and his relative’s hair, but indicated he would not give her testimony more weight.
When a prosecutor asks #76 if he’s looked into the case and why, he appears to get a little emotional and the prosecutor asks if he needs a moment. He says he’s “a little nervous. I appreciate this opportunity.” He’s about a 5/10 in terms of his knowledge of the case and says he can make a decision solely based on the evidence.
“I just get a little choked up at times,” he later tells Bob Rubin. “It’s all just my personality. I’m an emotional person.” No. 76 also said he makes decisions by doing research and educating himself.
“I’m pretty anal and very meticulous,” he said.
Kevin Gough questions #76 briefly about church, where he’s previously lived, the gun he owns, and his thoughts on open carry. He says he only has a problem with open carrying when the person looks suspicious.
Juror #79 appears to be a white woman in her 30s or 40s. Works for a big box retailer now, and previously as a 911 operator. She has been robbed at gunpoint, and does not own firearms: “I’m just not comfortable with them. I’m all for guns. I’m scared of them.”
Her son works for Customs and Border Protection; her brother’s stepson works for local police. She knows someone who had a negative experience law enforcement--her late husband was arrested for selling scrap metal without a business license while he was undergoing chemotherapy--but said she could be open minded in this case.
No. 79 believes police may not treat people of color and white people equally: “I think a lot of times they profile Blacks.”
But she comes across as open-minded in questioning by the State, adding, “There’s probably a lot of facts that the public is not aware of, too. I don’t want to draw a decision just on hearsay.” She’s worried about cameras because Brunswick is a small town, but said she thinks she can be fair and impartial.
Defense attorneys had no questions for her.
Court resumes at 8:30 AM Wednesday.
3:45 pm: Jason Sheffield asks Juror #73 if the video of the shooting has shaped her thoughts about the case, and she says no, because she can’t remember it. He asks if she still thinks a crime has been committed. She initially says she doesn’t know, then when asked again, says, “A crime was committed.” She agrees she can accept the presumption of innocence.
Sheffield asks if there is anything about this case has racist overtones or racist tendencies and she responds, “I feel like it could,” but is open to the idea it might not be.
Laura Hogue, an attorney for Gregory McMichael, asks #73 about her early views on race. Our pool reporter says, “The judge has the juror step out and briefly reprimands Hogue for telling the court in front of the juror what she’s allowed to ask.”
The judge calls the juror back in and she tells Hogue she has discussed the case with friends and family.
Kevin Gough, Roddie Bryan’s defense attorney, questions her briefly about her background, her decision to buy a gun, and her family. She rejoins the panel.
The State makes a motion to excuse Juror #85 for cause, the 85-year-old with health concerns mentioned earlier.
Hogue again asks the judge if she can ask about their early views on race.
3:30 pm: Juror #73 is being questioned. Pool reporter says she also appears to be a white woman in her 30s, and she is a gun owner as well. No. 73 says police don’t treat black people and white people equally, but says that won’t impact her judgment in the case.
“No one should have to fear going out because of their color,” she tells prosecutors.
3:21 pm: Travis McMichael’s attorney Bob Rubin asks Juror #72 if someone who has the old Georgia state flag on a car, bumper sticker or in their yard is a racist.
“I don’t know if they understand how it may make other people feel, or they may feel that’s their heritage, but my own personal belief is not the same,” she responds.
Kevin Gough, attorney for defendant Roddie Bryan, asks if she has Southern heritage. “Yes, but the civil war is not necessarily my heritage,” she replies. She tells him she hasn’t really formulated an opinion about Bryan.
Bob Rubin asks the judge if he can ask jurors how they plan to judge the case solely based on evidence. Judge Walmsley said that kind of question is almost like a challenge to the jurors.
“The fact that they’re willing to try is what the court is looking at when it comes to strikes for cause,” Walmsley said.
2:46 pm: Juror #72 appears to be a white woman in her 20s or 30s. She caters and works for a retail jeweler. She lives on a 23-acre property near a hunting club and owns firearms. Her father is a retired deputy marshal; he and a friend taught her how to use firearms.
She said she gets her information from the case from news outlets and social media, and she has publicly expressed her opinion that “it wasn’t justified what happened to Ahmaud Arbery, and I believe that I don’t believe in vigilante justice.”
Juror #72 believes this was a hate crime, but told prosecutor Linda Dunikoski that she understands the defendants are not being charged with that in this court. When asked if she can put aside all she’s heard and decide the case based on the facts of the case, she responds “absolutely.”
“I think I’ve always been a pretty objective person,” she added.
She was the victim of a break-in about 10 years ago in Brunswick.
She considers the Confederate flag to be a racist symbol, that police don’t always treat Black people, people of color, and white people the same, and supports Black Lives Matter. She said her opinion on police and BLM would not affect her ability to judge the evidence in this case.
She said her negative feelings about defendants come from the media, but she can “absolutely” give them a fair trial.
Defense attorney Bob Rubin is questioning her now. She tells Rubin, one of Travis McMichael’s lawyers, that based on what she knows about the case, if Arbery had been white, “it probably wouldn’t have happened.”
Rubin asks again why she believes racism is the motivation.
“I think if it was a white guy running through the neighborhood, I don’t think he would have been targeted as a suspect,” she said.
2:20 pm: Judge Walmsley decides to move to bringing in morning panels only for jury selection. That’s going to double the estimated time expected to do voir dire, as lawyers believed they could get through 40 jurors--two panels of 20--each day.
As post-lunch questioning of the current panel’s members gets underway, so far there have been five jurors questioned, four struck, and 11 to go.
Juror #65 is a convicted felon so the State excused her for cause; the defense consents. Juror #69, State moves to strike for cause and defense consents due to some of his answers.
1:07 pm: Juror #62 is the one who raised his hand when asked if he knows Greg McMichael & his wife: “He’s a friend of my father’s & he’s been over to our house multiple times.” 62′s a security contractor whose dad is a longtime prosecutor there; he wants to be a cop. His father’s worked under now-ousted DA Jackie Johnson, new DA Keith Higgins, and others. His dad has also run for district attorney against Johnson, he said. The potential juror also said he’s met Johnson “on a number of occasions.”
Judge Timothy Walmsley expressed some clear frustration at the pace of jury selection and is urging attorneys on both sides to pick up the pace. He’s sending home until Wednesday a panel of potential jurors who were supposed to have their questioning start this afternoon.
“I do not have the ability to just store people or keep them longer than planned,” the judge said. “I am not comfortable with this…At the rate we’re going, all these plans we have to move these panels through are not going to work.”
Lunch break until 2:00.
Judge Walmsley, frustrated by the pace of jury selection in the #AhmaudArbery shooting case, urges lawyers to speed things along. A new panel of 20 potential jurors was supposed to be assemble at 1:00, but he's is sending them home until Wednesday. @wsbradio pic.twitter.com/pPagMbtb5g
— Veronica Waters (@MissVWaters) October 19, 2021
12:20 pm: Prosecutors interviewed Juror No. 52, a teacher, a mother of two teenagers, and the ex-wife of an NCIS federal agent. She says that while her husband was in law enforcement, she sees “the good and bad” in the profession.
She said she has seen the video of the shooting at least once, and told Travis McMichael attorney Bob Rubin, “I just remember thinking I didn’t want to watch it again.”
The woman says she doesn’t watch the news, gets her information from following local media organizations on Facebook, and has followed the case now and then while sharing articles about the case online.
She’s a member of at least two Facebook community groups, she told Laura Hogue, one of the attorneys representing Greg McMichael.
“At the very beginning, I was curious about it since it’s in our community,” she said. “Some of the things I’d post, I didn’t even read the entire article.”
The woman said the majority of the comments posted online about the shooting had been negative.
11:55 am: Juror No. 44 said her husband has followed the case closely and has a negative view of the defendants.
“When I got the jury summons, my husband was adamantly against the defendants,” she said.
The woman said she believes she could be fair and impartial, and would refrain from discussing the case with her husband at home.
“I don’t know what happened. The only people who know what happened were there,” she said after being asked about her opinion of the case.
She said she wants to do her civic duty, but fears possible repercussions in her personal life if she is selected to be a juror.
Jason Sheffield asked more about her stance on race and whether she believes it played a role in the case.
“We can’t go around our daily lives with our eyes closed and not see something that’s been ingrained in us since we were kids,” she said.
Juror No. 50 has been dismissed. Both sides agreed but no cause was given in court. They are now questioning juror No. 48, a young woman who said she is hearing impaired and doesn’t have reliable transportation to and from court. “I saw the news footage and I saw the video footage of the crime, and I’ve already formed a guilty opinion of the crime. I think that they’re guilty,” she said.
11:20 am: No. 42 was struck for cause--by agreement of both prosecutors and defense attorneys--after saying they believed all the defendants should be convicted on all counts. He’s a black man who has participated in social justice demonstrations.
Juror No. 44, a white woman, works at a bakery. She supports the Black Lives Matter movement, and is a mother who wants to teach her daughter to respect everyone.
“I don’t have to worry about being approached because of the color of my skin, or because they way I walk or the way I talk,” she says.
She said earlier in the panel questioning that she believes Black people are unfairly treated in the criminal justice system.
The defense is going to question her.
11:05 am: Juror No. 39, a white man, is the VP of operations for a seafood company. He knows George Barnhill through the Rotary Club. Barnhill is a district attorney who, like ousted DA Jackie Johnson, came under fire for how he handled the case of Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting. Barnhill wrote a letter discouraging prosecution of the McMichaels and Bryan, calling their actions “perfectly legal.” Barnhill’s son had also worked with Gregory McMichael in DA Johnson’s office.
Juror 39, who in group questioning raised his hand to say he has negative feelings about the McMichaels, has seen the video of Arbery’s shooting a “couple of times” and thinks he knows what may have happened. He tells Travis McMichael attorney Bob Rubin, “It’s hard to erase some of the video, but as I scientist, I can follow the facts.”
Rubin tried to get him to elaborate on his opinion of the case, saying, “I’m not trying to get the witness to say anything. I’m just here to listen,” after the prosecution objected to his line of questioning.
“I’m not sure which way I’m leaning,” the juror told him.
“It sounds like you’re balanced. Is that fair?” Rubin pressed.
“I’m not really sure that’s where I am,” #39 replied. “Someone was murdered. That’s all I know.”
10:50 am: More pool report updates are here. The remaining eight potential jurors from Monday’s pool have not been dismissed, but individual questioning for that group is being delayed.
Walmsley said Juror No. 85, who is 85 years old, took a while to leave the room and made a comment about whether or not he had to serve given his age. He was just letting the attorneys know. He was brought a chair during group questioning because the bench was uncomfortable.
Walmsley urged attorneys on both sides to move quickly: “Just remember we’ve got a 1 o’clock panel of 20 coming in and would like to move things along.”
10:00 am: Day 2 of jury selection is underway in the Ahmaud Arbery shooting case. Twelve of the initial 20 prospective jurors were dismissed on Monday afternoon. Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley took the bench and greeted the next panel of 20 jurors, thanking them for their time and noting that this is a high-profile case.
“Many of you knew when you got your summons that you would be involved in a case that in this community, is of some note,” he said. “We can’t do what we do in the Superior Court without members of the community coming down and making themselves available for jury selection… We can’t do this without you.”
Judge Walmsley swore in the jurors. Asked whether their minds were perfectly impartial between the state and the accused, four of the 20 prospective jurors raised their hands, indicating they were not.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski is questioning the prospective jurors as a group. It appears a few of them personally know some of the figures in this high-profile case. Juror No. 62 raised his hand and said he knew Greg McMichael and Greg’s wife, and previously had law enforcement experience. He also knows Glynn County Schools police Chief Rod Ellis, who could be called as a witness at trial.
Another woman, juror No. 41, said she knows William “Roddie” Bryan. Juror No. 50 raised his hand and said he knows Waycross Judicial Circuit DA George Barnhill, who was previously assigned the case after former DA Jackie Johnson.
Juror No. 65, a Black woman, said she knows Ahmaud Arbery’s father, Marcus.
Another person raised their hand to indicate they know current Brunswick DA Keith Higgins, who ousted Johnson during last year’s election.
Twelve of the 20 said they own some type of firearm at home--a handgun, rifle, or shotgun.
Jurors 42, 65 39 raised their hands when asked if they knew anyone in the room.
Jason Sheffield, who represents Travis McMichael, asked the first round of defense questions.
No. 62 said again that he knows Greg McMichael. No. 39, who was seated in the front row, said he knows Bryan.
Four people said they have a “negative feelings” about Travis McMichael, and three said they negative feelings about his father Greg. Two of the 20 potential jurors they had they harbor negative feelings toward Bryan.
At least seven potential jurors said there are no guns in their homes. Three people, Jurors 39, 50 and 72, said they vote based on the issue of guns.
One potential juror, No. 42, a Black man, said he’s participated in racial justice demonstrations. Five people said they support the Black Lives Matter Movement.
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