Trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery begins

Was Arbery in an altercation days before his death?

2:43

(CNN) -

The trial of the three white men accused of the murder of black runner Ahmaud Arbery is scheduled to begin this Friday morning, again drawing US attention to the case in a small Georgia town. in which race has remained a central factor.

The jury members, 11 whites and one black, selected in a long and grueling process, will decide whether Gregory McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and his neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan Jr., are guilty of criminal intent and wrongful death in connection with with the shot at Arbery.

They also face charges of aggravated battery, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

All have pleaded not guilty.

Arbery, 25, was out for a run on February 23, 2020 near Brunswick when he was shot and killed.

Video of the episode appeared more than two months later, sparking widespread outrage and demonstrations just weeks before the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis triggered a summer of nationwide protests against racial injustice.

• Ahmaud Arbery was hit with a truck before he died, and his killer would have used a racial slur, according to the investigator

The McMichaels said they were carrying out a citizen's arrest in Arbery, whom they suspected of robbery, and that Travis McMichael shot him with a shotgun in self-defense.

Bryan, who recorded video of the shooting, allegedly hit Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in chasing Arbery.

The three men were allowed to leave the scene and were not arrested until after video of the shooting became public.

About 1,000 people were summoned to serve on jury duty in recent weeks in the mostly white county of Glynn, where the trial will take place, but fewer than half attended.

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Among those who appeared during two and a half weeks of questioning by lawyers, many said they knew the defendants, had already formed strong opinions on the case, or were afraid to be part of the panel, pointing out the possible consequences of specific verdicts may have on the community.

The video that advanced the case of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery 3:54

'Intentional discrimination' in jury selection, judge says

Prosecutors on Wednesday accused defense attorneys of disproportionately disqualifying qualified black jurors from the jury pool and basing some of their disqualifications on race.

Judge Timothy Walmsley said the defense appeared discriminatory but the case could go ahead.

"This court has determined that there appears to be intentional discrimination," the judge said, but ruled that there were valid reasons, beyond race, why the black jurors were disqualified.

In Georgia, the judge said, "all the defense has to do is provide that legitimate, nondiscriminatory, clear, reasonably specific and related reason" for disqualifying a juror and said the defense met that burden.

"That was devastating," Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones said of the jury selection when she left court Wednesday night, adding that she was "shocked" that there was only one black juror.

An attorney for Travis McMichael, Jason Sheffield, called the jury selection process "thorough," but said he was satisfied with the result and felt the selected jurors would be fair.

• The American Psychological Association apologizes for contributing to systemic racism

Earlier in the week, Sheffield had echoed another defense attorney's concerns about the low turnout of jurors, saying they did not "fairly reflect the defendant in this case."

That followed earlier comments from defense attorney Kevin Gough, who is representing Bryan.

Gough told the court Friday that "white men born in the South, over 40, without four-year college degrees, sometimes euphemistically known as 'Bubba' or 'Joe Six Pack,' appear to be significantly underrepresented."

Third arrest in Arbery case: the man who recorded his death 2:06

The day Arbery was killed

Arbery was jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood outside the city of Brunswick when the McMichaels grabbed their guns and chased him.

Gregory McMichael told police they went after Arbery because they suspected he was responsible for a series of alleged close robberies.

A local police spokesman later said that only one robbery had been reported in more than seven weeks prior to the shooting.

Gregory McMichael, a former police officer and district attorney investigator, told police that Arbery and his son fought over his son's shotgun before Travis McMichael shot Arbery after the latter attacked him, according to a report. police

Bryan joined the chase and recorded the shooting on his phone.

Following the deadly shooting, the case lay dormant for more than two months and two prosecutors recused themselves due to conflicts of interest.

But video footage of Arbery's murder appeared on May 5, 2020, prompting protests and orders for the arrest of the men involved.

• Video shows cops talking about "hunting down" protesters after George Floyd's murder

Attorneys for the three men said they were acting in self-defense.

But the opposite was true, said Deputy Special Agent in Charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Richard Dial during a preliminary hearing last June.

"I think Mr. Arbery was being chased, and he ran until he couldn't run anymore, and it was turning his back on a man with a shotgun or fighting with his bare hands against the man with the shotgun," Dial said.

"I think Mr. Arbery's decision was to simply try to escape, and when he felt he could not escape, he decided to fight," he added.

CNN's Eric Levenson, Dakin Andone, Angela Barajas, and Devon M. Sayers contributed to this report.

Ahmaud Arbery