Grand jury indicts 3 suspects in Ahmaud Arbery murder case

A grand jury has returned indictments of the three suspects in the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announced the charges at the Glynn County Courthouse at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. The indictment has nine charges, including malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

 

 

Holmes will be moving forward with the prosecution of 64-year-old Greg McMichael, 34-year-old Travis McMichael, and 50-year-old William “Roddie” Bryan, and was looking at the next steps. She acknowledged there would be a bit of a slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“This is another positive step, another great step, for finding justice for Ahmaud, for finding justice for this family and for the community beyond,” she said.

 

According to Holmes, the Cobb District Attorney’s Office presented the case to an existing grand jury due to the rules of Georgia’s statewide judicial emergency.

While Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to be signing a recently passed hate crimes bill, Holmes said that the new bill would not apply to the case because of the timing.

Earlier in June, a GBI agent testified in court that there was no evidence Arbery committed crimes in the subdivision where he was shot.

The investigator also testified that Travis McMichael was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting him with a pump-action shotgun.

 

“Mr. Bryan said that after the shooting took place before police arrival, while Mr. Arbery was on the ground, that he heard Travis McMichael make the statement, ‘f – – – ing n – – – er,’” GVI agent Richard Dial said.

 

After the hearing, a judge ruled there was enough evidence to try three suspects on murder charges.