BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Eight white people, three Black people and one Hispanic person have been chosen to serve as jurors in the federal hate crimes trial of three men convicted of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder.
The final jury panel was selected Monday morning in the case against Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan. Opening statements are to begin Monday afternoon by the prosecution and the lawyers representing the three defendants.
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood wrapped up a week of jury selection by bringing in two final groups of prospective jurors for questioning ahead of the trial. She then let the prosecution and the defense exercise their strikes to arrive at 12 jurors and four alternates.
The four alternate jurors include three white people and one person who identifies as a Pacific Islander. The 16-member panel is made up of 11 women and five men, but neither the judge nor the attorneys told them who was selected as a trial juror and who is an alternate.
The McMichaels — son Travis and father Greg — and Bryan, their neighbor, were convicted of murder in a state case last fall. In January, the McMichaels were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole; Bryan, who filmed the cellphone video of Arbery collapsing in the street from two shotgun blasts, was given the possibility of parole.
Last year’s trial became mired in controversy after defense attorneys used their allotted strikes to eliminate 11 of the 12 prospective Black jurors from the qualified panel. That case was decided by a jury of 11 white people and one Black man.
The McMichaels and Bryan now face federal charges accusing them of interfering with Arbery’s rights and targeting him because he was Black. The maximum punishment for the hate crimes charges is life in prison. There is no parole in the federal system.
Before court adjourned for lunch, Travis McMichael’s attorney, Amy Lee Copeland, made a motion to have four of the five counts listed in the indictment dismissed on a technicality. Copeland argued the indictment was not properly certified. She also asked that the other count of the indictment, which accuses all three defendants of attempted kidnapping, to be dismissed for prejudice.
Wood said she will consider the motion during lunch and rule Monday afternoon.
Because of intense pretrial publicity, Wood expanded the geographic region for the prospective jury pool to the entire 43-county Southern District of Georgia, instead of summoning jurors from the usual seven-county local area.
Wood has said she expects the trial to last seven to 12 days.
After court convened Monday morning, the judge told the jurors that she anticipates evidence of racial bias will be presented and she cautioned them, “I understand there is material that many may deem to be offensive may be introduced.”
She also told the them that they must consider only the evidence presented at trial and to follow her instructions. Before a final jury was selected, she asked the group of prospective jurors if they had made up their minds on the case and if they had done any independent research on it. No one said he or she had done so.
Of the more than 160 potential jurors questioned last week ahead of the federal trial, just about all of them were familiar with the case. And many expressed negative opinions about the three men standing trial. Those who said they could remain impartial and consider the evidence with an open mind were allowed to remain in the jury pool.
Those summoned to court were grilled about their exposure to the case, their views on race and the opinions they have formed since the 25-year-old Arbery was chased and killed on Feb. 23, 2020, in a neighborhood just outside Brunswick.
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