Watch the New York Times video I posted a few pages back. The video is shot from behind the McMichael truck. Arbery was running toward the back of the truck. The view of when Arbery first grabbed the gun is blocked by the truck. Travis was on the left of the truck, and Arbery ran from the back around the right side. It appears that Arbery charged around the front of the truck after that in an attempt to seize the gun. Then he started punching Travis, who outwrestled him for control of the gun and shot him twice. The judge excluded evidence of other encounters with police and other people where Arbery had done the same aggressive grabbing thing. That's going to be a strong basis for appeal if the jury votes to convict. His probation also probably had an effect on how he acted.
I caught up with information on this trial today. Here are my quick perspectives. We have a nearly all white jury with one black juror in a rural Georgia county. The prosecution appears to be doing a piss poor job. The defense attorney appears to be merely average and pushes the "woke mob lynching his clients" continually out of earshot of the jury. The defendants appear to have done a good job of defending themselves based on the points of law (maybe they were coached by their merely average attorney(s) -- thus making the attorney better than thought). The points of law make it appear that the defendants may have a case for self-defense and the Georgia law at the time of the shooting appears to show that they are legally allowed to pursue, hold and perform a civilian arrest of an individual they suspect of a crime. I don't know how this whole situation will turn out in court. That these three individuals decided to take matters into their own hands is very unfortunate and unwise on their part -- but IMO the jury may not vote to convict them.
True --- the McMichaels did well on the stand -- reflecting the better attorney. Part of it is not clear to me is that some of the press coverage appears to show the defendants have separate attorneys -- while other press articles make it seem like a "defense team". This is the one part I am left confused about.
Travis was the only of the three who testified. Happens all the time, because of potential conflicts of interest that may arise. Bryan made a motion for a separate trial because he didn't want to be tied to the other two.
Again, there should have been no gun out to grab. The father lost his powers of arrest years ago because he did not do 20 hours a year minimum training. His son had none I expect. That this annual training exists highlights that you need expertise and skill to arrest somebody and a fucking mall ninja does not have this. I've arrested scores of people and when fight or flight kicks in, you have to be ready for it. Is that really so he'd to understand? Pointing a loaded gun at somebody in a public place IS ASSAULT and a serious crime that comes with a possible criminal sentence. The assaulted person will react and very often attack instinctively. Cops are trained for this, mall ninjas are not. The message needed is hang back, wait for the police you called, DON'T pull out a gun on an unarmed man because you are tired of chasing him.
He had law enforcement training in the Coast Guard. At least an hour of testimony on that. Seemed to have a lot of expertise.
Just wanted to interject... While reading this thread, I glanced over and saw this... When I saw that, the Johnny C. theme immediately popped into my head. I have no idea why. Erm, *runs out of room and slams door*