JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — The jury in the federal hate crimes trial of the three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery has been sequestered.
Judge Lisa Wood filed the order to sequester the jury on Monday. The jury includes three Black jurors, eight white jurors and one Hispanic juror. All four alternates are white.
When a judge orders a jury to sequester, this means the jury must be kept away from the public. According to the order, the sequester is to protect the jury from "trial publicity, extraneous influences and harassment."
The jury will remain sequestered through the entirety of the trial. Jury selection ended on Monday after more than a week.
Later on Monday, both the prosecution and the defense gave their opening statements in trial, which accused Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan of hate crimes in the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
The prosecution is hoping to prove that Arbery's race was the reason he was attacked by the McMichaels in 2020.
All three defendants were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in the state murder trial against the McMichaels and Bryan in November. The jury was not sequestered for that trial.