The men were arrested more than two months after the shooting death and charged with felony murder and aggravated assault. "The truth will reveal that this is
not just another act of violent racism," Frank Hogue, an attorney for the men, said at a news conference. "Greg McMichael did not commit murder."
Gregory McMichael told police after the shooting that he and his son pursued Arbery because they thought he looked like a suspect in a series of recent break-ins, a police report said. A struggle ensued between Arbery and Travis McMichael, who was armed with a shotgun, according to the report and a video that appears to show the incident. Arbery was shot three times, including twice in the chest, according to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation autopsy report.
No string of break-ins was reported in more than seven weeks before Arbery's death. And new surveillance video taken from a home under construction where Arbery entered on the day of his death is creating more questions, as it's clear he wasn't the only one who entered the property.
CNN obtained 11 surveillance clips spanning from October 25, 2019 to February 23, 2020 from Attorney J. Elizabeth Graddy, representing English, on Saturday. Two of those videos were obtained by CNN prior to this week and six others were sent on Friday.
Some of the videos provided were dated October 25, 2019, November 18, 2019 December 17, 2019, February 11, 2020 and February 23, 2020. The videos with dates were sent to CNN by Graddy with the dates as their titles.
Eight clips were dated and three clips, two showing children entering the home and one clip showing a man and a woman entering, were not dated.
On October 25, nighttime video shows a black adult male walking around the house, which is under construction and down to the studs.
Within a month, a black adult male is seen in the house on two separate videos taken November 18. The man is shirtless and walks around the home.
The next month, on December 17, three separate clips show a black adult male walking around the home at night before jogging off empty handed.
On February 11, video shows a cars headlights drive by the home at night before a black adult male is seen walking around the house.
The last video, which is the only video that has been confirmed to be Arbery, was taken during the day on February 23. It shows him walking around the home which is still under construction.
Only one video is confirmed to be Arbery
Arbery's family has previously confirmed to CNN that one video, dated February 23, 2020, was of him entering the house prior to the shooting.
When asked about the new videos, S. Lee Merritt, attorney for the Arbery family, said he was not going to continue to ask the family about people seen in surveillance videos.
"I have chosen to stop questioning the grieving family of Ahmaud Arbery about images from the cameras mounted at the construction site of Larry English as Mr. English himself has said no criminal activity ever took place there and it is clear that Ahmaud was on the premises in the past along with many other people," Merritt said in a statement emailed to CNN.
Graddy told CNN that the homeowner does not know anyone seen in the videos which were transmitted to his phone by his security system each time someone entered the property.
"We do not know who any of the individuals in the nighttime videos are and never have," Graddy said in an emailed statement. "The reason that Larry English sent the videos to his neighbor ... in the first place was to ask, 'Do you know any of these people?'"
Source: CNN, Hollie Silverman, May 18, 2020
Security video from construction site may show Ahmaud Arbery was getting water, lawyer says
SAVANNAH, Ga. – A young black man filmed by a security camera walking through a home under construction in December and in February may have stopped at the site for a drink of water, according to an attorney for the homeowner thrust into the investigation of the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.
Arbery was killed Feb. 23 in a pursuit by a white father and son who armed themselves after the 25-year-old black man ran past their yard just outside the port city of Brunswick. Right before the chase, Arbery was recorded inside an open-framed home being built on the same street.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, have been jailed on murder charges since May 7. The elder McMichael told police he suspected Arbery was responsible for recent break-ins in the neighborhood. He also said Arbery attacked his son before he was shot.
Arbery’s mother has said she believes her son was merely out jogging.
On Friday, an attorney for the owner of the house under construction released three security camera videos taken Dec. 17, more than two months before the shooting. They show a black man in a T-shirt and shorts at the site. In the final clip, he walks a few steps toward the road, then starts running at a jogger’s pace.
“It now appears that this young man may have been coming onto the property for water,” J. Elizabeth Graddy, the attorney for homeowner Larry English, said in a statement. “There is a water source at the dock behind the house as well as a source near the front of the structure. Although these water sources do not appear within any of the cameras’ frames, the young man moves to and from their locations.”
A man in similar clothes appears briefly in another security video taken at the home construction site Feb. 11, less than two weeks before the shooting. Graddy said that person appears to be the same man shown in the Dec. 17 videos.
It is not known if Arbery is the person shown in any of the videos taken prior to Feb. 23, when the shooting occurred.
Defense lawyers for Gregory McMichael said Friday that they have examined evidence that “tells a very different story” about Arbery and the two men charged with killing him. Attorney Laura Hogue told reporters: “There is more than one video of the incident.”
She did not give any specifics. A roughly 40-second cellphone video of the shooting was leaked online last week, a day before the McMichaels were charged the felony murder and aggravated assault. The video fueled a national outcry not just over the killing but also that more than two months passed before arrests were made.
Attorney Franklin Hogue, hired to defend Gregory McMichael along with his law partner wife, said more details would be revealed at a preliminary court hearing that he plans to request soon.
“The truth will reveal this is not just another act of violent racism,” Franklin Hogue told a news conference outside the couple’s Macon office. “Greg McMichael did not commit murder. Greg McMichael is not a party to the crime of murder.”
Attorneys for Arbery’s parents have said security camera video from the same home construction site Feb. 23 shows Arbery on the property right before the shooting. They also say the footage shows Arbery committing no crimes.
English has said nothing was ever stolen from his property. Graddy said his security cameras had recorded “numerous clips of persons entering the property” and shared two clips that showed a pair of children riding bicycles up to the home and then walking inside.
“There were frequently people on the construction site both day and night,” attorneys for Arbery’s parents said in a statement Friday. “Ahmaud Arbery seems to be the only one who was presumed to be a criminal and ultimately the only one murdered based on that assumption.”
Travis McMichael, 34, called 911 to report a possible trespasser on English’s property the night of Feb. 11, less than two weeks before Arbery was shot. He described a “black male, red shirt and white shorts.”
“When I turned around and saw him and backed up, he reached into his pocket and ran into the house,” Travis McMichael told the 911 operator. “So I don’t know if he’s armed or not. But he looked like, he was acting like he was.”
Source: The Associated Press, Staff, May 15, 2020
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