WASHINGTON | Three white Americans on trial for the murder of a black jogger on Monday demanded that their trial be overturned, arguing that the presence of “black pastors” in court could influence jurors.
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In February 2020, Gregory McMichael, his son Travis and their neighbor William Bryan hunted down and shot dead Ahmaud Arbery, 25, in Brunswick, Georgia.
After the broadcast of a video of the drama, the young jogger became a symbol of the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter (black lives matter).
Tried for murder, the three men plead not guilty, claiming to have taken him for a burglar and to have acted under a local law authorizing ordinary citizens to make arrests.
Last Thursday, William Bryan’s lawyer had already taken umbrage at the presence of Reverend Al Sharpton, a figure in the struggle for civil rights, in the court. “We don’t want other black pastors to come here,” said Kevin Gough.
Judge Timothy Walmsley countered that he was not going to sort out members of the public. “It is not illegal,” had added Ahmaud Arbery’s father’s lawyer, Ben Crump, promising to “bring a hundred black pastors to pray with the family.”
On Monday, the Reverend Jesse Jackson therefore took a seat alongside the jogger’s parents in the court. And when his mother burst into tears, he comforted her in front of the jurors.
Mr. Gough then returned to the charge. “I demand the annulment of the trial” on the grounds that “the atmosphere of the trial, inside and outside the court, deprives Mr. Bryan of his right to a fair trial,” he said. .
“We have civil rights icons sitting here (…) with their eyes riveted on the jurors,” he continued. “The precedents in gangster cases show that having an audience in the courtroom can influence jurors.”
“I especially do not want to suggest that Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson belong to a gang”, but “we hear all these community leaders repeat that they are afraid of seeing the city burn” in case of acquittal, said Me again. Gough.
Without repeating his arguments, the other defense attorneys also requested that the trial be quashed, but Judge Walmsley dismissed their request, suggesting that Mr Gough himself had caused the arrival of new pastors.
The well-attended trial in the United States resumed with the hearing of witnesses. It should still last several days.