I’m thinking these defendants are thinking they should have went for deals after today. The state is destroying this citizens arrest stuff and JMO, I think this jury is getting the vision of a lynch mob with the way they grabbed guns and piled into trucks. The fathers own words are dishing his hole and this is making the LE there look awful too.
I wonder what plea they were offered? I assume they were offered a plea but would have had to plead guilty and get prison time so they nixed it.
One Of The Men On Trial For Killing Ahmaud Arbery Changed His Story Within Hours
11/09/2021 04:08pm EST
In the courtroom on Tuesday, Jeff Brandeberry, a Glynn County police officer who responded to the scene, read from a transcript of his body camera footage that day.
Defendant Gregory McMichael initially told Brandeberry that
“[Arbery] makes frequent trips to the neighborhood and gets caught on video cameras every third or fourth night breaking into places, and no one’s been able to catch him.”
But hours later, Gregory McMichael told a detective that he believed Arbery had
only targeted a single home under construction that had no doors or windows.
The discrepancy is important because the McMichaels are claiming self-defense.
But Tuesday’s testimony calls the McMichaels’ fundamental assessment of the threat they say Arbery posed into question, particularly since Gregory McMichael seemed unsure of the details of the alleged break-ins. The men also
never invoked a citizen’s arrest claim at the scene, according to testimony on Monday.
Glynn County Police Officer Jeff Brandeberry sits on the witness stand.
“I haul *advertiser censored* to my bedroom to get my .357 magnum. Don’t know if the guy is armed because the other night the guy stuck his hands down his pants. I don’t take any chances.”
Gregory McMichael also told Brandeberry he would have shot Arbery had his son not done it.
“I would be perfectly honest with you, if I could have got a shot at the guy [Arbery], I would have shot him myself.”
Brandeberry testified that police never told Gregory McMichael to sit in a law enforcement car nor on the curb, and did not take him away from the scene. The defendant also made calls while at the crime scene from his cell phone, according to the testimony.