Blog Draft: News

The federal hate crimes trial of the men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery began in Georgia today.  This trial would never have come about had it not been for the courage of Arbery’s mother.  She first demanded that the case be taken out of the hands of local officials in Glynn County, Georgia so that a prosecution for murder could take place.  Then, she had to go before a judge and demand that Ahmaud Arbery’s killers not be allowed to take a plea deal for hate crimes and spend the first of their sentence in a federal prison.  It is outrageous that Arbery’s mother has had to push through legal action against her son’s killers.

Notes:

• The judge in the case is US. District Court judge Lisa Godey Wood.
• Jurors were questioned outside the courtroom where reporters and the public were allowed to listen.
• After this questioning, the judge dismissed nine of the panelists leaving 16 remaining in the jury pool.
• I cannot for the life of me understand why the media continues to call the neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, using his nickname.
• One of the potential jurors was dismissed after telling the judge that she had known Bryan and that she felt “sorry for him.”
• The prosecutors in the state murder trial almost completely left race out of the discussion.