BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Hundreds of people have been ordered to report for jury duty in Georgia for what could be a long, laborious effort to find jurors to hear the trial of three white men charged with fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery.
The slaying of the 25-year-old Black man on Feb. 23, 2020, sparked a national outcry fueled by graphic video of the shooting.
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, are charged with murder and other crimes.
Prosecutors say Arbery was merely jogging in the defendants' neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick at the time of the shooting.
According to a police report, the McMichaels and Bryan suspected Arbery of committing a string of robberies in their neighborhood. When they saw the young man run by, the McMichaels armed themselves and followed Arbery in their trucks.
Video from the incident shows the McMichaels drive up beside Arbery. A struggle follows for a few moments before a gun is fired, and Arbery stumbles to the ground.
Defense attorneys insist the three men committed no crimes and that Travis McMichael only fired his weapon after a "violent encounter" with Arbery.
Prosecutors would not file charges in connection with the shooting for nearly three months and only after the video of the shooting became public.
Between the shooting and the release of the video, the case passed between several judicial circuits and district attorneys. Some of them worked with Greg McMichael during his time working as a police officer and investigator.
One ex-prosecutor, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, has been indicted for misconduct related to her work on the case.
The McMichaels were arrested and charged with murder on May 7, 2020. Bryan was arrested two weeks later.
