BRUNSWICK, Ga. — It looked like jury selection was nearing an end Thursday in the federal hate crimes trial against the three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery.
That ended up not being the case, however. By the end of the fourth day of jury selection, 57 potential jurors had qualified to move to the next round of questioning next week out of 135 people attorneys and the judge have questioned since Monday. About 42 percent of all of those questioned have moved on to the next round.
U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood wanted between 50 to 60 qualified jurors in place before they narrow that down to 12 jurors and four alternates using strikes from both sides. She upgraded that number earlier this week from 36 due to potential COVID concerns.
Thursday, Wood said despite getting to 57 potential jurors qualified, they'll question two more groups of 15 each Friday morning starting at nine a.m. Wood said depending on how that goes, they may question more potential jurors Monday.
If Wood chooses not to question more groups Monday, then they'll start to narrow down the pool to 12 jurors and four alternates that day. Attorneys tell First Coast News, they could hypothetically see opening statements starting Monday afternoon if they get the jury picked Monday morning. If not, opening statements would start most likely Tuesday.
Nearly half of the 24 potential jurors questioned Thursday said they have negative opinions about the defendants. Nine said they think all three are guilty. Most of them were excused.
Several potential jurors throughout jury selection have struggled when attorneys ask what their thoughts and understandings are of a hate crime.
"We came here prepared for what we knew would be an arduous procedure," Barbara Arnwine, Founder of the Transformative Justice Coalition and Arbery family supporter, said. "It is just inherently difficult for most people to know and understand a second trial after a first trial and what the hate crimes trial is. And so, it’s understandable that people walk in confused because our society doesn’t teach us enough about our legal system, enough about civics, enough about how civil rights work in our country," she said.
"If we knew more about civil rights, we’d understand what a hate crime trial is and there wouldn’t be so much confusion, so some of this is just a lack of our public education, a lack of our civic understanding," she said.
Arnwine and Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery Sr., said they hope there's more diversity on the final panel in this trial than in the state's. As of Thursday, about 10 percent, or 14 members of the pool are Black. The state trial had just one Black juror on the final panel.
As the second anniversary of Arbery's death approaches, and may coincide with the federal hate crimes trial, Arbery Sr. said his family struggles every day with the loss of his son.
"You can’t replace Ahmaud with nobody else," he said.
"Ahmaud was one of a kind. I’m telling you, he cannot be replaced. His heart and his love that he gave to this family, we are going to struggle the rest of our lives losing him like that. All we want is 100 percent justice and I want the world to see what those three racial monsters did. I want the world to see that that’s why it’s important to have this trial here," he said.
Arnwine said lots of people have reached out to her and the Arberys to show support, and many will be going to the marches and daily vigils they plan to hold during the trial.
In November, a jury found both Travis and Gregory McMichael and their former neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, guilty of murder in Arbery's death. The three white men chased 25-year-old Arbery, who was Black, through Brunswick's Satilla Shores neighborhood before Travis McMichael shot Arbery.
Once the jury is picked, the judge said the trial will last seven to 12 days. Opening statements will likely happen early next week.
U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said the court summoned 1,000 people for jury duty, the same number that was called for the state trial. In the federal trial, however, they pulled people from all 43 counties in Georgia's Southern Federal Court district to try to seat an impartial jury.
RECAP
11:51 a.m.: Two qualified from this morning's group of 12 potential jurors questioned, but two who had already qualified from another day filed requests for hardships that were granted by the judge, so that bumps the total back to 52 qualified to the next round of questioning Monday.
There have been 123 potential jurors questioned total. This morning's two were one Black man and one white woman.
The second group of potential jurors for today will be questioned at 2 p.m.
9 a.m.: Jury selection is scheduled to resume. Nearly half of all those questioned so far have qualified for the next round of questioning Monday. At this same point in the state's case, only 15 potential jurors had qualified for that case's next round of questioning.