On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted all three suspects accused in the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
AJC reports that Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan have been formally charged with malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment as well as criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment, which comes to nine counts in total. Cobb County District Attorney announced the indictment outside of the Glynn County Courthouse in Georgia.
Typically, grand juries have not been allowed in session due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Holmes said that a judicial order allowed grand juries selected before the pandemic to reconvene. “This is another positive step, another great step for finding justice for Ahmaud, for finding justice for this family, and the community beyond,” Holmes said outside of the Glynn County Courthouse.
Bob Rubin, one of the attorneys representing Travis McMichael said that there is more evidence in addition to what the DA presented to the grand jury. “In order to get an indictment, the district attorney only has to present their side of the case. It’s unfortunate the DA did not seek to present to the grand jury all the facts in the case or seek our input to what evidence we would ask them to consider. There’s more to this than has been revealed to the grand jury and we expect to plead not guilty to these charges and present the rest of the evidence in court.” Rubin said.
Arbery was shot and killed on Feb. 23 in the Satilla Shores neighborhood just outside Brunswick, Ga. No charges were initially filed after the incident occurred. Things began to change after a cellphone video recording by Bryan of Arbery’s shooting was leaked onto the internet. This spurred national outrage and resulted in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation getting involved in the case. Greg and Travis McMichael were arrested shortly after the GBI took over the case and Bryan was arrested only a few weeks later. Holmes took over the case after multiple attorneys recused themselves, likely due to Greg McMichael’s history of working as an investigator for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. All three men are currently being held in the Glynn County Jail without bond.