McMichaels arrested
Two men have been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault for the February shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested on Thursday and will be booked into the Glynn County Jail.
Cellphone video showing the moment Arbery was killed has prompted national outrage since surfacing online this week, but his mother said she can’t bring herself to watch it.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be in a mental state where I can actually watch the video. I had others that watched it that shared what they saw and that just was enough,” Wanda Cooper-Jones told ABC News in an interview that aired Thursday on “Good Morning America.”
She shouldn’t watch it.
“I’m managing, it’s really hard,” Arbery’s mother told ABC News Thursday. “It’s really been hard.”
I’ve seen any number of respected lawyers and legal commentators flat out say it was murder. No equivocation or hedging as you so often get from these people.
They’ve also pointed out that the ONLY reason there is all this fuss and any investigation at all is because of the video. Note also that the first investigation announced was into who leaked the video and threats made against the police for not investigating the murder, even though they had the video.
It’s sickening.
I’ve seen the video. I don’t recommend watching it. But some things are clear from it. First, Arbery was jogging, in normal jogging clothes, not running like someone trying to escape the scene of a crime. Second, the McMichaels were parked in his path. The father was in the bed of the truck, while the son was on the street with his gun. Arbery ran around the side of the truck opposite the son, then there’s some inaudible chatter, then you see Arbery and the son struggling. The father claims that Arbery attacked his son, but fuck that. If you’re blocking the path of a person and threatening them with a gun, you’re initiating the violence.
They should spend the rest of their lives in jail.
I’d like to see them executed for this, preferably with one of those inhumane cocktails that are so popular…
Filth.
Blood Knight in Sour Armor,
I understand the sentiment, but I can’t agree. Quite apart from the cruelty and immorality of the death penalty, the way it is litigated in the US means that the cases drag on for years, even decades, keeping the convicted in the spotlight and forcing the victim’s loved ones to relive the crime over and over. I’d rather they were locked up in some obscure prison in Georgia and forgotten by the rest of us.
Maroon, I tend to agree with you about capital punishment. In Georgia for a death penalty sentence, certain aggravating circumstances must be met and the sentence then applied unanimously by the jury. The murder they committed doesn’t seem to meet any of the criteria, but a murder conviction automatically carries a life sentence. A sentence of life without parole is possible under special circumstances, so there is an outside possibility of that. I think what troubles me at this point is that they haven’t even been charged yet.
twiliter,
Per the article in Ophelia’s link, they have been charged. A few months late, of course.
I found it, looks like the charges are murder and aggravated assault. Maybe there’s hope of life without parole sentences now, if convicted. There’s going to be some serious public outrage if a conviction isn’t forthcoming.
@#4 What A Maroon:
I 100% agree with you about the death penalty but to paraphrase Malachi from the episode “Godfellas”: “Smite someone who deserves it for once!”
Now we’re getting somewhere, a little late but…
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/man-who-took-video-of-ahmaud-arberys-shooting-will-also-be-investigated-georgia-official-says/ar-BB13MJoz?li=BBnb7Kz
How is it that someone makes a video right when this is happening, something fishy here.