Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes. (Courtesy photo)At the end of a daylong livestreamed hearing, Glynn County Magistrate Court Judge Wallace Harrell found sufficient probable cause to bind over three defendants to Superior Court on all charges for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick.
After listening to arguments and testimony for nearly seven hours Thursday, the judge took about a minute to simply name each defendant: Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. After each name, Harrell said the defendant will be bound over to Superior Court. With that, Harrell closed the hearing and left the bench.
All the Glynn County Superior Court judges have already recused themselves. The case has been assigned to Chatham County Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley from Savannah.
The first two district attorneys assigned the case have also recused themselves due to connections to Gregory McMichael, a retired police officer and DA’s Office investigator. The third local area DA stepped down to make way for Attorney General Chris Carr to assign the case to Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes from Marietta—300 miles away.
Arbery was killed Feb. 23 in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick. No arrests were made until May 7—after the release on social media of a video showing the shooting. After seeing the video, Gov. Brian Kemp and Carr directed Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vic Reynolds to offer the bureau’s resources to a local DA—the third one assigned to the case. Within two days of the state taking over the investigation, the McMichaels were arrested. The attorney general reassigned the case to Holmes. Bryan’s arrest followed May 22.
GBI Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial was the hearing’s only witness.
Under direct examination from Cobb County Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans, Dial told a story of three white men tracking Arbery as he ran—blocking him repeatedly from making turns that would have allowed him to continue on his path out of their subdivision across Highway 17 into his own neighborhood.
Dial testified Wednesday that Bryan told police he heard Travis McMichael standing over Arbery’s body after shooting him saying, “F–king [N-word].”
Defense attorneys cross examined Dial with a series of questions suggesting the McMichaels suspected Arbery of burglary because he had been seen on security video walking into a house under construction.
While the hearing was in progress, the Georgia House of Representatives announced plans to repeal the state’s citizen’s arrest law. State Reps. Carl Gilliard, D-Garden City; Roger Bruce, D-Atlanta; Don Hogan, R-St. Simon’s Island; William Boddie, D-East Point; and Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, all said they are backing the legislation.
“This legislation’s focus is to prevent civilians from taking the law into their own hands,” said Gilliard, who is the author of the bill. “Our citizen’s arrest law was created in 1863, and this law is clearly outdated as it was formed in the fashion of the Wild West. When individuals lose their lives at the hands of civilians that become judge and jury, we must use the power of the pen to move Georgia forward.”
“I am honored to join Rep. Gilliard on this legislation, and I believe that it is the role of law enforcement to safeguard the citizens of our state,” Greene said. “Georgia needs to join other states in passing this legislation, and I commend Rep. Gilliard on the introduction of this legislation.”
“The citizen’s arrest law has become a legal defense for murder,” Bruce said. “It is time for us to repeal this law and the lawlessness associated with it.”
Currently, Georgia law states that a private citizen may arrest an offender if an offense is committed in his or her presence or within his or her immediate knowledge, the legislators said. If the offense is a felony and the offender attempts to escape, a citizen may arrest him or her upon reasonable and probable grounds of suspicion. The proposed legislation would prohibit certain citizens from practicing a citizen’s arrest, including weight inspectors and citizens who are licensed with the Georgia Board of Private Detective and Security Agencies. The legislation will be filed during the 2020 legislative session, which will reconvene June 15.
Also during the hearing, Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, issued a call for the resignations of the two DAs who passed on prosecuting the case: Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill.
“Today’s hearing demonstrates clearly that District Attorneys Jackie Johnson and George Barnhill’s gross mishandling of the Ahmaud Arbery case makes them unfit for their offices. We call on both to resign,” Young said.
The two DAs are also being investigated by the GBI and the U.S. Justice Department. Both have issued brief statements defending their actions and saying they will have no further comment.
Dial was cross examined by Travis McMichael’s defense co-counsel Jason Sheffield of Peters, Rubin, Sheffield & Hodges; Gregory McMichael’s defense co-counsel Franklin J. Hogue of the Macon law firm Hogue Hogue Fitzgerald & Griffin; and Bryan’s defense attorney Kevin Gough of Brunswick.
In closing, Evans said he welcomes answering the self defense argument at trial. He said Arbery was “chased, hunted down and executed at the hands of these men.”
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