Attorneys for two white Georgia men charged with killing unarmed black jogger Ahmaud Arbery are vowing to “find the truth” in the racially charged slaying once the case heads to court.
Speaking to reporters Thursday in Decatur, attorneys for Travis McMichael, 34, acknowledged the “anger” and “outrage” surrounding the Feb. 23 shooting death of Arbery, 25, but warned against rushing to judgment — particularly since some details prior to the slaying have not been uncovered, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
“Right now we are starting at the end,” attorney Jason Sheffield told reporters. “We know the ending. What we don’t know is the beginning. In this case, the entire nation is investigating. We will find the truth and we will bring that truth out, not here but in the courtroom.”
McMichael, who remains held without bail, retained Sheffield and another attorney, Robert Rubin, on Monday. His father, Gregory McMichael, 64, who is also facing aggravated assault and felony murder charges in Arbery’s death, has retained two attorneys as well, Laura and Franklin Hogue, the newspaper reports.
The four attorneys know each other, Rubin said, while declining to indicate whether he believed their clients would be tried in court together.
The elder McMichael’s husband-and-wife legal team have also warned against putting stock in preconceived notions associated with Arbery’s caught-on-camera slaying, the Macon Telegraph reports.
“So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgment, which has happened in this case,” Laura Hogue told the newspaper in a statement.
Franklin Hogue, meanwhile, acknowledged Arbery’s death was a tragic loss as he echoed his wife’s take.
“While the death of Ahmaud Arbery is a tragedy, causing deep grief to his family — a tragedy that at first appears to many to fit into a terrible pattern in American life — this case does not fit that pattern,” Franklin Hogue said.
“The full story, to be revealed in time, will tell the truth about this case.”
Gregory McMichael told cops he and his son thought Arbery was a burglar and claimed Travis McMichael shot him in self-defense as they struggled over a shotgun.
