Three men charged with Ahmaud Arbery’s death appear before a Glynn County judge today, marking the first time prosecutors and investigators lay out some of the evidence against them.
Defense attorneys for Greg and Travis McMichael and Roddie Bryan will also offer their first defenses; all three are charged with felony murder in Arbery’s death on Feb. 23.
Attorneys for Arbery’s parents said there was a sense of relief after Bryan’s arrest.
The attorneys and Arbery’s parents met with the US Attorney about federal investigations on the case last week; the Department of Justice is looking into how Brunswick DA Jackie Johnson, Waycross DA George Barnhill, and Glynn County police handled the early stages of the investigation, as well as whether federal hate crime charges apply.
Johnson and Barnhill were the first two prosecutors to review the case, despite Greg McMichael’s previous employment with Johnson’s office and Barnhill having not been given the case by Georgia’s Attorney General.