'No one is above the law': Cobb prosecutors reflect on Arbery verdict - Yahoo News
Dec. 29—Before the trial of the three men who killed Ahmaud Arbery began, Cobb County District Attorney Flynn Broady prayed with the victim's parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick.
"And one of the things I talked to them about was, no matter what happens in this trial, we know your son's life had meaning," Broady said in an interview with the MDJ.
Already, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery had led to two bipartisan reforms — the repeal of Georgia's citizen's arrest law, and the passing of a state hate crimes law. But those statutes were not in place at the time of the crime, and would not apply to the trial of Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan, the three men charged with Arbery's death.
As the country waited with bated breath, the jury's verdicts were announced Nov. 24. Despite worries that the citizen's arrest law would shield the defendants, and concerns about a jury that was almost entirely white, all three men were convicted of murder. For Broady, it was a sigh of relief as Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley read the verdicts.
"I really thought 'OK, these jurors are so smart," Linda Dunikoski, the lead prosecutor in the case, told the MDJ. "These jurors understood it, these jurors were paying such close attention, and they listened to all the evidence in the case. They were really, really focused, they took a lot of notes, they paid attention to all of the videos ... It was so affirming of my belief, and I think the team's belief, in the justice system."
It had been a long road to providing closure. After Arbery was chased down and fatally shot in Brunswick in February 2020, it took three months for arrests to be made.
Two district attorneys recused themselves due to conflicts of interest. One of them, Jackie Johnson, now faces criminal obstruction charges related to the case.
source: https://news.yahoo.com/no-one-above-law-cobb-050100283.html
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