GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — Three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old Black man, in February 2020, and were later convicted of federal hate crimes, are seeking a new trial.
Attorneys for Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan said some of the jurors in the murder trial may have been tainted.
Attorneys for the three men made a range of arguments for a new trial, from the tainted jury claims to ineffective counsel for William Bryan.
In court the judge heard from witnesses called, including the former attorney for Bryan, a private investigator, and Lee Wilson, who was hired by McMichael's counsel after the trial. Wilson questioned three jurors six months after the trial.
The first witness to take the stand was Kevin Gough, William Bryan's 2021 murder trial attorney.
In a written motion, Bryan’s lawyer, Rodney Zell, argued that Gough's "counsel was ineffective." Zell said Bryan was failed to be adequately prepared resulting in him “incriminating himself.”
The second witness called to the stand by the defense was Lee Wilson, a private investigator hired by the McMichaels counsel after the murder trial.
Travis McMichael's attorney, Pete Donaldson, questioned Wilson about the interviews he conducted six months after the trial. Donaldson read out transcripts from the audio recordings of Wilson's interviews with the three jurors he interviewed. Wilson said he reached out to 10 jurors, but only three agreed to speak.
The Judge informed Donaldson he must establish if jurors were exposed to extraneous information.
During Wilson's testimony, the state objected many times, saying the transcripts were hearsay and questioned the relevance of the material.
The state also said the jurors who were interviewed were "bamboozled," and "weren't expecting their interviews to be turned into impeachments of this verdict," since they were being recorded without their knowledge.
Next on the stand was one of the jurors from the 2021 murder trial. The juror was asked about his interview with the investigator by Donaldson. Donaldson also asked the juror if he felt sorry for the Arbery family.
The jury answered telling Donaldson he was "summoned by the Lord" and he felt sorry "for both families... he wanted to bring the truth."
Another juror was asked what he heard one day while getting lunch from a hotdog stand nearby the courthouse while a rally was happening.
The state cross examined this juror who said the rally didn't happen during the trial and the juror didn't know they were were being recording during the investigator interview.
Ahmaud's father, Marcus Arbery was present in court. Arbery said he felt like he was reliving the murder trial again.
"I just thought it was over with because all the evidence they had for killing my son because he was a Black man," he said. "I thought this stuff would be over with."
"Everything they was bringing in there was weak. It was very weak they were throwing everything to the wall and nothing would stick," said Arbery.
"They’re gonna fight, they’re gonna lose because the law is overwhelming against them. If you were listening today, that’s what you heard," said Barbara R. Arnwine, President of Transformative Justice Coalition.
The judge did not make his final ruling in court Thursday.
Judge is giving the defense and state time to gather their arguments and sum them up into briefings, then he will make his decision on whether the men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery will get a new trial.
Arbery was shot and killed while running in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in February 2020, but no arrest came until months later, when cellphone video of the shooting surfaced.
The three men were found guilty of murder in November 2021 and sentenced to life in prison. Judge Timothy Walmsley was the judge who gave these men their life sentences.