Debate over Black jurors disrupts Arbery jury selection

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A dispute over whether Black people were stricken from the jury pool because of their race has disrupted seating a final jury in the trial over the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Attorneys narrowed a pool of 48 people to 12 final jurors Wednesday. Minutes after they did, prosecutor Linda Dunikoski announced that only one of those 12 jurors was Black and the rest were white. She challenged defense attorneys’ decisions to elimate seven Black panelists from the jury pool, saying they were based on race. Laura Hogue, an attorney for defendant Greg McMichael, denied race was considered. She said those jurors showed bias in their answers to attorneys’ questions in the past two weeks. Judge Timothy Walmsley has yet to rule.