WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2022) A jury was seated in US Federal court in the trial of three Georgia men charged with hate crimes in the murder of Black man Ahmaud Arbery in November of 2020, the Denver Post reported on Monday.
Twelve jurors and four alternates were selected from a pool of 64 people who met the criteria to be impartial jurors, the report cited US District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood as saying.
The judge then instructed the lawyers in the case to be prepared to make opening statements, the report said.
The trial is the second one for father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan, who were found guilty of murdering Arbery in earlier trial. The McDaniels chased Arbery in their pickup truck while he was jogging in the belief he committed crimes in the neighborhood and shot him to death with a shotgun.
Travis McMichael testified in the first trial that he shot Arbery in self-defense after Arbery attacked and punched him, while grabbing for his shotgun. The men were not arrested or charged until a video of the incident leaked two months later.
The McMichaels were sentenced to life in prison without parole but federal prosecutors in the trial will� now seek to convince the jury that the trio targeted Arbery because he was Black and that they violated his� civil rights. The defendants have pleaded not guilty.
