I think the underlying felony charged in this case is aggravated assault. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, revolves around using a gun to detain someone.
You and I differ on basic but important elements of this case. I see a guy walk into a construction site, look around, and leave. I do not see a complainant (the owner of the property). I see no way the father/son could have immediate knowledge of a felony being committed by the deceased, let alone witnessed a felony. I see the stop as bad which means everything that happens after the stop was bad. IMHO.
Fair.
I think the underlying felony charged in this case is aggravated assault. Which, correct me if I’m wrong, revolves around using a gun to detain someone.
You and I differ on basic but important elements of this case. I see a guy walk into a construction site, look around, and leave. I do not see a complainant (the owner of the property). I see no way the father/son could have immediate knowledge of a felony being committed by the deceased, let alone witnessed a felony. I see the stop as bad which means everything that happens after the stop was bad. IMHO.
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Thank you at least engaging in a dialogue. Some of these people on this board are rude as can be. So let me address your points:
1) Aggravated assault: Basically, this is an assault with a deadly weapon. The outside DA who investigated found no assault because GA is an “open carry” state. Example: Hundreds of angry protesters show up in Michigan at the Capitol carrying AR-15s and angrily getting in the faces of the Democrat pols. Aggravated assault? Sure, the Democrat pols are scared, but the underlying behavior is legal. As long as McMichael did not point the shotgun at Arbery, I don’t see an assault. Also, an assault requires putting the victim in “fear.” Since Mr. Arbery will not be around to testify, and he charged 15 feet and made a bee-line to grab the shotgun, that suggests that he wasn’t afraid of the gun, but rather afraid of going to jail.
Second, I have read a few GA cases. There is a mistaken belief out there that a citizen’s arrest must concern a felony. That is not true. Citizens can make arrests for misdemeanors as well that occur within their “immediate knowledge.” Since the elder McMichael called 911, he obviously had “immediate knowledge” that a crime had been committed. So “immediate knowledge isn’t the issue.”
Third, in the law we like to look at the “totality of the circumstances.” In this case, the elder McMichael was 1) clearly aware that this house had previous burglaries—so did the other 911 caller; 2) apparently, McMichael had been shown pictures of the suspect, which he recognized as the guy running past him; 3) the suspect is seen SPRINTING from the previously burgled house after a neighbor challenged him as to why he was there; 4) McMichael shouted at him to “stop,” but he kept sprinting. In my book, that is probable cause that what McMichael saw was a burglary suspect.
So here are two issues that I would like someone to find out about:
1) Can a citizen make something less than an arrest? Like a citizen’s “detention”? Police do this all the time. I ask this question because there was no “arrest” of Arbery.
2) Can a citizen make an arrest of a felony burglary suspect for a burglary that happened months earlier? The crime is in his “immediate knowledge,” but the burglar did it months ago.