Posted on 05/18/2020 8:32:01 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
It’s all over the news, two white guys shot a black man in Georgia while he was jogging because they thought he was a burglar. The racial aspect touched a nerve, which was compounded because Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael took the law into their own hands. It looked like the Trayvon Martin fatal shooting all over again. And things got worse when more details started coming out.
So is this a modern day racist lynching, as some like Al Sharpton are claiming, or is it merely an unfortunate situation? Now it’s too early to pass judgment, since the men are entitled to a jury trial in a court of law. We don’t know all of the facts yet. But we do know quite a few, and the main controversy seems to come down to the men’s decision to follow Armery.
People were outraged that the men were not arrested right away. It took the release of a video of the shooting a couple months later, invoking loud protests, to arrest them.
The prosecutor for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, Jackie Johnson, recused herself because the elder McMichael had worked in her office. The next prosecutor assigned to the case, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, also recused himself because his son worked for Johnson’s office.
Shortly before the shooting occurred, a neighbor of the McMichaels called 911 and said a black man had entered a house that was under construction nearby. The McMichaels say they saw Arbery jogging and got into their truck to follow him. Now anyone in law enforcement will tell you it’s not a good idea as a citizen to accost someone who is not in the process of committing a crime. If Arbery had burglarized homes, he wasn’t burglarizing one when they saw him jogging down the road.
But the law is vague about timing. In Georgia, the private citizen’s arrest statute says, “A private person may arrest an offender if the offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge.” The McMichaels apparently thought Arbery had just come from robbing a home.
Prosecutors initially told the police not to arrest the two men, saying they were acting within Georgia’s citizen’s arrest and self-defense statutes. However, Arbery family attorney S. Lee Merritt says the most Arbery was doing was trespassing, which doesn’t justify a citizen’s arrest. Those who know Arbery say he was known for jogging in that area.
The McMichaels said they yelled, “Stop, stop, we want to talk to you.” The elder McMichael said his son got out of the car with a shotgun. He said Arbery started to violently attack Travis and the two started fighting over the shotgun. Travis then shot Arbery three times. Arbery did not appear to be armed.
Barnhill said in his letter recusing himself that the older McMichael had previously investigated Arbery. CNN obtained a text message that was sent to a homeowner by a Glynn County police officer instructing him to contact Gregory McMichael if he saw a burglar on his security cameras.
Barnhill also said that Arbery had a criminal history. Arbery was indicted for bringing a gun to a high school basketball game when he was 19. He was arrested in 2018 for shoplifting. Barnhill said he believed the shooting was justified as a citizen’s arrest. He questioned whether maybe Arbery had caused the shotgun to be fired.
The McMichaels claim Arbery looked like a suspect in a string of burglaries. Travis McMichael called 911 several days before the shooting to report a man going into a house. One homeowner said he has previous video of a man entering his property and stealing fishing tackle. But Glynn County Police Lt. Cheri Bashlor said just one burglary in the neighborhood had been reported, theft of a firearm in an unlocked car outside the McMichael’s home. And Larry English, who owned the home under construction, said nothing had ever been stolen from the home.
George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, was acquitted of charges by a jury that found he was acting in self-defense. Zimmerman got out of his car and followed Martin because he thought he was a burglary suspect and was behaving suspiciously. There was evidence there had been a scuffle, since Zimmerman had a bloody nose along with lumps and two cuts on his head.
The two shootings are so similar there is a very good chance a jury will acquit the McMichaels. So should people be outraged? The problem likely lies in the law. Perhaps citizen’s arrest laws need to be narrowed to make it clear that citizens can only arrest suspects at the time of the crime, not 20 minutes later. It’s the concept of private citizens chasing after a suspect who isn’t in the process of committing a crime that bothers people. It makes it look like the people in pursuit are escalating the chances of violence.
Lindsay McMichael, the sister and daughter of the suspects, has come forward saying that the two are not racist, that they have always approved of her nonwhite boyfriends.
This doesn’t appear to be a racist hate crime. It’s most likely a situation where the law failed and needs to be revised. As a former police officer, the senior McMichael no doubt knew the citizen’s arrest law well, having encountered people using it while on the beat. He thought he was within his rights to follow Arbery. But it doesn’t mean it was a good judgment call.
There’s more to the case than what you are describing. It’s too soon to know what happened here but there’s a lot of history and case detail that needs to come to the surface before a clear picture can emerge.
I don’t think he had much time to do more than react to the gun pointing at him... my gut tells me the two going after him weren’t exactly set on giving him a chance to explain either.
If not true, please cite. I say he had no criminal history. It is up to you to prove otherwise since you said he did.
Yeh trying to tie this to the Zimmerman incident is not going to fly. This is a classic lesson of what can go wrong with a citizen arrest. The first mistake was pulling out the shotgun without fear for your life. This is not standing your ground or castle doctrine.
"The Brunswick News has reported Arbery was indicted for allegedly bringing a gun to a 2013 high school basketball game when he was 19. Family attorney Lee Merritt has acknowledged Arbery's 2018 arrest on shoplifting charges."
An unfortunate incident performed by two vigilante wannabes who screwed up big time and are now in jail, facing life in prison if convicted on the murder charges.
Trayvon was up to no good and went after Zimmerman because he felt “dissed” that Zimmerman was watching him—as told to by the police dispatcher. I think there was also an uninvolved witness to the fact that Zimmerman was being violently attacked by Trayvon.
There are 2 items in this man’s extensive criminal history spanning 8 years. His crime spree started when he brought a firearm to a school basketball game. Then he terrorized his town by shoplifting. When will it end?
2 crimes, one of which will not even get you arrested nowadays if you take something less that $900.00. Being arrested for shoplifting is hardly a criminal history. Teenage girls do it all the time. Bringing a gun to a basketball game, yes that could be criminal but it is a single incident. When I was a kid people had rifles and shotguns in their pickup trucks in the school parking lot during school and at sporting events.
The only other factors were that a brother and a cousin had encounters with law enforcement, but damn! You can’t be made a criminal just because your brother or cousin did something illegal. If that were the case, I would be in prison for all of the things my brothers did. I am a law-abiding citizen and proudly so. I don’t deserve to be considered a criminal based on my 2 brothers who were well-known to police in my little town.
Let the media just sits there and waits for any case where they have white dude shoots black guy on video OK?
I pointed out to my dear liberal wife who tried to bring this up
“hey what about the other six black kids that day they were shot in Atlanta and killed by other black kids ?”and she kind of looked at me
Again all of the news networks are just waiting around for “ hey ! we got a video of some white yahoo shooting a black guy”
Did you see Obama’s little stupid speech the other day we tried once again to rile racial tensions ? the guy is an absolute race baiter
And of course that’s one of the key things that the Democrats have always had - race baiting
I think even black folks are getting sick of it now
What you said are all true in the case of Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was in danger and had to defend himself as Trayvon ATTACKED HIM and was pummeling him to the ground MMA style as a witness said.
What’s the excuse of the guys who were following Arbery in their vehicle?
Huge criminal history. Very scary stuff.
No all they need to show is that McMichael the younger murdered him.
You sure changed your tune quickly.
There's a lot more on all sides to come out. No reason to rush to judgment.
“The deceased didn’t have a criminal history.”
Besides trying to take a pistol into a high school football game and having no CCW and running from the cops, dropping the gun. Oh, and besides getting caught stealing a TV from a big box store.
But other than that.. no record at all.
It depends upon who is presenting the claim of the distance. The closest I have yet to find is a satellite map... it appears from space the homes are not far apart. However, I have yet to see an actual ‘street’ route from one site to the next.
Seems strange how much emphasis has been produced to make sure ‘god’ and the world, view this as two, father and son, rednecks, doing what made them infamous.
In 1980 or so, when I was 16, my 2 friends and I were cruising around one night, lost in my new girlfriend’s neighborhood while trying to find her house. Suddenly, 2 older rough looking dudes in a Porsche pulled up next to us and yelled at us to “pull the f*** over!” Well, of course we mocked them. They then pulled in front of us with a “cop stop”. As I pulled back to get away, the driver pointed a silver revolver at my side of the car along with a badge, yelling “Police! Get the f*** outta the car!” I took a quick survey of the guys and we believed him, somehow. Turned out it was an off duty reserve cop and his neighbor. Some kids had been vandalizing his house lately and they thought it was us and were just pissed off about it. We assured them that they had the wrong guys. I got his name and badge number and my district judge dad called the CBI in for an investigation. Dude got fired. He got off easy, cuz - in self defense of two crazed Porsche driving hillbilly looking old dudes with a gun - I was about to crush him with my v8 AND likely died doing it.
+1. I didn’t see ANY deliberate shot from the guy. I saw Arbery run at him from a distance, do a great head fake left then hook around the truck and attack him. The guy never aimed the shotgun at him before he was attacked. The entire time there was a struggle for control of the gun and sometimes the guy barely had control of it.
Arbery caused his own demise. They had yelled at him the cops were on the way. Lot’s of neighbors were out. He didn’t act at all confused and stop to see what they wanted. He knew he was a thief, didn’t want to be arrested again and went right into the attack.
He wasn’t confused because he knew he was a crook and was in trouble.
A normal innocent person would usually stop and wait for the cops or try to clear up the mistake.
Anyway, more air for me to breathe.
McMichael shot Arbery three times. Even if the first shot was caused by Arbrey pulling on the shotgun, McMichael would have had to work the pump twice and pull the trigger twice. Nothing accidental in that.
Just try taking a cop's gun and see what happens.
These weren't cops. They were vigilante wannabes.
“Huge criminal history. Very scary stuff.”
As Barnhill stated, his third cousin twice removed had a criminal history.
And as Private Pyle stated, “Citizen’s Arrest! Citizen’s Arrest!”
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