“Nothing will bring back Ahmaud, but his family will have some peace knowing the men who killed him will remain behind bars and can never inflict their brand of evil on another innocent soul.” A recently painted mural of Ahmaud Arbery is on display in Brunswick, Georgia, where the 25-year-old man was shot and killed in February (Photo: AP Photo/Sarah Blake Morgan, File) Who was Ahmaud Marquez Arbery? In a statement, Benjamin Crump, the civil rights attorney representing the Arbery family, said: “After nearly two years of pain, suffering and wondering if Ahmaud’s killers would be held to account, the Arbery family finally has some justice.
The video played to the jury – consisting of 11 white jurors and one black member – shows the younger McMichael pointing his shotgun at the 25-year-old, who runs towards it before the fatal shots are fired. His dad had to leave the court while the footage played. It was previously reported how Ms Cooper-Jones broke down in court as she was shown footage of her son being killed for the first time. To tell you the truth I never saw this day in 2020, I did not think this day would come… Thank you, thank you for those who marched. Speaking outside the courtroom, Mr Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said: “It’s been a long fight, it’s been a hard fight, but God is good. The verdict was delivered at Glynn County Courthouse on Wednesday after two weeks of testimony and evidence, during which the McMichaels claimed the shooting was an act of self-defense and that they had attempted to enact a citizen’s arrest. Bryan, who pursued Mr Arbery in a separate vehicle and was not carrying a firearm, was convicted on six out of nine counts, also including the charge of felony murder. Greg McMichael was convicted on eight out of nine counts levelled against him, including felony murder. The jury returned unanimous decisions on Wednesday, convicting Travis McMichael, who opened fire on Mr Arbery three times with a pump-action shotgun, on all nine counts including charges of malice and felony murder. The three defendants claimed, without evidence, that Mr Arbery had been involved in a spate of burglaries in their neighbourhood.
The trial started on 18 October with all three defendants charged with murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment. The three defendants were found guilty Wednesday in the death of Ahmaud Arbery (Photo: AP Photo/Stephen B Morton, Pool) Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones is hugged by a supporter after the jury’s decision. It took 74 days until the first charges were pressed.