Travis McMichael, who is on trial for killing Ahmaud Arbery, admitted at his murder trial on Thursday that he misspoke to police after shooting a Black man just passing by McMichael’s house.
A prosecutor had questioned Travis McMichael about his inconsistent testimony, and McMichael responded that he did not explain what he actually meant to the police.
The white man, McMichael, who is on trial for the death of Arbery, told the jury that Arbery attempted to take his shotgun after they had been chasing each other for five minutes, causing him to fire in self-defense.
In response to police’s latest inquiries on Thursday, he admitted that he could not say for sure whether Arbery really did grab the gun.
Following the proceedings on Thursday, the defense rested their case, and the jurors were told they would hear closing arguments on Monday morning.
Initially, Michael’s account of the shooting was “choppy” due to his nervousness and stress.
There were times when he misspoke to police, or “had it wrong” when he made his statement after the cold blood shooting of a black man on Feb. 23, 2020, in the coastal Georgia town of Satilla Shores.
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“I just killed a man,” he said. “I had blood on me still. It was the most traumatic event of my life.”
Arbery had “turned and ran” when he heard that the police were heading toward him. As at then, the younger Mc Michael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and a co-defendant were chasing Arbery in their pickup truck.
A joint defense was presented by the McMichaels at the hearing.
Upon seeing them go past his driveway, their neighbor Bryan got into his truck and started chasing them, but he did not call any other witnesses or police.
A number of prosecutors and relatives said Arbery ran on a regular basis and in fact used to run in a neighborhood nearby where McMicheal resides is.
A large number of Black pastors gathered outside the courthouse in Glynn County to pray for Arbery and his family.
Attorney Kevin Gough had tried to ban Black pastors from entering the courtroom but Gough who is on the case on the behalf of co-defendant William “Roddie” Bryan, failed.
On Thursday, during cross-examination by prosecutor Linda Dunikoski, McMichael acknowledged that he did not mention all of the incidents explicitly during an interview with police, nor did he mention it in his written statement at the time.
“You’re telling this jury you’re all confused and you can’t get your facts straight when you’re telling the police why you shot and killed a man?” Dunikoski inquired.
“I’ve never been through a situation like that,” he told.
In recounting Arbery’s chase, the younger McMichael was calm when he called out to him [Arbery] and said polite words, such as “please.”
This is in contrast to the threatening language used by McMichael’s father, according to Dunikoski’s police statements.
From his police interview, Dunikoski asked young McMichael whether he heard his father shout at Arbery in sentences such as “‘Stop or I’ll blow your fucking head off?'”
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McMichael said he didn’t remember hearing that.
Over the course of two days, McMichael testified for more than six hours.
In his defense, McMichael’s lawyers claimed the neighborhood was on edge because of recent thefts and produced witnesses who claimed not to know the McMichaels personally but had seen discussions of theft that happened in their locality on local Facebook groups.
