Jury selection in Ahmaud Arbery trial crawls into 2nd week
ATLANTA (NewsNation Now) — It is week 2 of jury selection in the trial of three white men charged with chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man shot and killed while out jogging last year.
Now, a judge and attorneys are faced with the challenge of finding potential jurors in Glynn County, a small and close-knit community. What they’re finding is that the bulk of people they’re vetting have already formulated an opinion about this case and who’s at fault.
As Monday night, the judge only deemed 32 people fair-minded enough to advance in the jury selection process. That’s about half the number of people needed.
Attorneys on both sides acknowledge that finding jurors is going to be tough. They want to have the trial in Glynn County, where this happened, and allow Greg and Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan to be tried by a jury of their peers.
They need to find 16 people — 12 jurors and 4 alternates — who be impartial.
Jury summonses were sent to upwards of 1,000 people, which is roughly one out of every five adults in the county.
The judge says it’s possible he may not seat a final jury until next week.
The McMichaels and Bryan face life in prison if they’re convicted of murder.