ATLANTA (Court TV) — Two of the three Georgia men accused in the death of Ahmaud Arbery will remotely stand before a judge Thursday morning to request that they be released pending their upcoming trials.
Travis and Gregory McMichael, father and son, have been in the custody of the Glynn County Sheriff’s Department for the past six months. A third defendant, William “Roddie” Bryan, is being held at the same facility.
On February 23, 2020, Arbery, 25, was jogging when he was gunned down in the defendants’ Brunswick neighborhood. Bryan, 50, allegedly hit Arbery with his truck before he started recording the incident between Arbery and the McMichaels. The shocking cell phone video captured the struggle that ensued between Travis, 34, and Arbery prior to Arbery being shot.
In this 2012 photo provided by Yolanda Richardson, of FuzzyRabbit Fotos, Ahmaud Arbery poses for a senior photo on St. Andrews Beach, Jekyll Island, Ga. Arbery was killed Feb. 23, 2020, after a pursuit by a white father and son who armed themselves and gave chase after seeing the 25-year-old black man running in their subdivision. (Yolanda Richardson/FuzzyRabbit Fotos via AP)
All three defendants maintain they were trying to ask Arbery about a suspected burglary in the neighborhood. That video didn’t come to the public’s attention until May 5, more than two months later, when the 36-second clip was released by Gregory, 64, who thought it would make him and his son look better.
Two days later, on May 7, the McMichaels were arrested. Two weeks after that, Bryan was arrested on May 21. All three remain in the Glynn County Detention Center awaiting trial.
The three defendants were each indicted on June 24 on one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony. Each entered a plea of not guilty during their July arraignment.
It is expected that the McMichaels will petition for their freedom Thursday by arguing that their ties to the community make them a low flight risk. They filed a joint motion in the hopes that the court will consider that father and son lived their lives well prior to their arrests.
In addition, their attorneys have filed motions seeking to have charges of malice murder and criminal intent to commit a felony dropped.
Whether the judge will be moved enough to release the pair remains to be seen. However, when Bryan’s attorney made similar arguments during a bond request in July, his pleas were rejected.
