Arbery death trial dominated by race before it even begins

By RUSS BYNUM
Associated Press

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The trial hasn’t even started and yet issues of race are at the forefront of the case in which three white men are charged with murder for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery. The family of the slain 25-year-old Black man was rattled Wednesday when the jury selected for the case included only one Black juror. Ben Crump is an attorney for Arbery’s father. He called it “outrageous” that other potential Black jurors were excluded to create what he called an “imbalanced jury.” Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan are charged with murder and other crimes in Arbery’s February 2020 death. Many view the case as a reckoning on whether the justice system treats Black victims fairly. Judge Timothy Walmsley plans to start the trial Friday.