A Georgia judge ruled Ahmaud Arbery’s legal record cannot be used as evidence to defend the three men accused of murdering him last year.
Lawyers representing Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr had requested permission to use Arbery’s past arrests and tense interactions with police as evidence for their defense in May, according to The Associated Press.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley denied their request on Monday.
“It is apparent that defendants’ intended use of the victim’s other acts is to engage in speculation as to why Arbery acted as he did,” the judge wrote.
In his ruling, Walmsley argued the records could “lead the jury to believe that although Arbery did not apparently commit any felony that day, he may pose future dangerousness in that he would eventually commit more alleged crimes, and therefore, the Defendants’ actions were somehow justified.”
“The character of the victim is neither relevant nor admissible in a murder trial,” Walmsley stated.
Arbery died in February 2020 after the McMichaels and Bryan pursued him while he was jogging through their Brunswick, Georgia, neighborhood. Once they caught up with him, Travis McMichael got into an altercation with Arbery and shot him three times with a shotgun.
The men’s defense attorneys claim their clients believed Arbery was a burglar. They wanted to cite ten “bad acts” proving Arbery was not an innocent jogger accosted by a group of racist white men. At the time of his death, Arbery was unarmed and did not have any stolen property in his possession. Travis McMichael’s legal team asserts he acted in self-defense.
Jason Sheffield, one of Travis McMichael’s lawyers, criticized Walmsley’s decision.
“Why the judge would now decide that all of his prior motives, his intent, his plan to do these things is not relevant in this case is baffling,” Sheffield said, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The attorney argued the jury “will be denied the truth.”
The McMichaels and Bryan will stand trial for state murder charges in October. The trio is also facing federal hate crime charges. The federal trial will begin in February.
