re: #179 Jay C

The “BS” (well, one bit of it anyway) is also that Ahmaud Arbery was simply poking around a construction site; technically, misdemeanor trespass at the worst - if that.

But I’m guessing the McMichaels’ defense is more likely to focus on the (reported) struggle for the shotgun that Travis McMichael (reportedly) threatened Arbery with. Which (as with George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin) throws the shadow of “self-defense” on the charges.Which I am sure any *local* jury will be only too happy to seize on as an excuse to let these clowns walk…..

Since GA has no hate crime laws, it’s all going to be self-defense at trial. The McMichael’s will have a defense strategy of playing down everything prior to the confrontation as “legal” or “misguided,” while insisting that the relevant moment was when (according to the accused) this “thug” attacked them and tried to make a grab at one of their weapons. They “fear for their lives” and so shot him in “self-defense,” a tragic set of circumstances that wouldn’t have happened had he just stopped and “answered their questions.

And note this will be before they proceed to character assassination by bringing in his past misdeeds while playing up the McMichael’s and their “years of service” as DA’s investigators.