The three men indicted on murder charges in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery pleaded not guilty on Friday in a Brunswick, Georgia, court.
Gregory McMichael, 64, his son Travis McMichael, 34, and William Bryan, 50, were indicted in June by a grand jury on nine counts, including malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, died after being shot in February when confronted by the McMichaels, who were armed and claimed they were trying to conduct a citizen’s arrest of a person they believed to have committed a series of local robberies.
The McMichaels, who are white, were not arrested until May, shortly after the video footage of the confrontation taken by Bryan was released and it became a national controversy. Bryan, who is also white, was arrested that same month.
Gregory McMichael is a former police officer. His law enforcement privileges were revoked last year after a number of infractions dating back to 2005. He and other officials in the district attorney’s office signed a memo at that time in which he agreed to give up his badge and weapon and was reclassified as a non-sworn employee.
Arbery’s death has been compared to the deaths of other unarmed black people, most notably Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minneapolis, which have inspired protests calling for an end to police brutality and racial inequality.
