Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady Jr. has spoken out on the murder convictions of three men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick.
Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William R. Bryan, all white defendants, were found guilty of the murder of Arbery, a black man, by a Glynn County jury the day before Thanksgiving.
The case, which drew national headlines, was prosecuted by Cobb DA’s office. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr reassigned the cases in May 2020 after the Glynn District Attorney recused herself because Gregory McMichael worked as an investigator in that office.
Broady, who defeated appointed Cobb DA Joyette Holmes last November, said in a statement issued by his office Friday that “were determined that each of the defendants were given a fair trial and I believe we did that.”
He also commended his staff, including “lead prosecutor Senior ADA Linda Dunikoski, Senior ADA Paul Camarillo, ADA Larissa Ollivierre and a host of others from our office [who] worked tirelessly to ensure justice for this [Arbery] family.
“We held firm to the belief that our criminal justice system works. When you remove the hate, the intolerance and divisiveness and focus on truth, integrity, and unity that justice will prevail.”
Arbery, who was 25, was jogging in a Brunswick neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020 when he was shot down.
A viral video showing him being shot as he ran was released several weeks later, and made national headlines in the wake of the George Floyd death in Minneapolis, sparking national protests at the behest of Black Lives Matter.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, publicly fought for her son’s death to be prosecuted after the Glynn District Attorney declined to bring charges, citing Georgia’s citizen arrest law.
After an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Carr assigned the Cobb DA’s office to investigate and prosecute the cases.
In its 2021 session, the Georgia legislature revised the citizen arrest law and enacted a hate crimes statute for the first time.
The Glynn County jury had 11 white people and one black juror, and during the trial saw video footage showing Travis McMichael in a pickup truck, shooting Arbery at close range as he ran.
Travis McMichael was convicted of malice murder and eight other felony charges. His father, Greg McMcMichael, was found guilty of four charges of felony murder but was found not guilty of malice murder.
Bryan, who recorded the incident from his phone while riding in the McMichaels’ truck, was convicted of three felony murder charges.
They all face life in prison.
Broady said that the Glynn jury “made a clear statement ” in finding all three men guilty of murder, one that “reflects a new direction for our communities, this State, and the nation, to denounce hate, division and intolerance and promote unity.
“This case has garnered national attention, recalling attention to a past, this nation yearns to forget. It is important that we never forget. That we look at our past and map a new way forward. That we understand our prior shortcomings and work to the goal enumerated in our founding documents, ‘all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’ and may we add Justice. In order to do that it takes strength and courage, to demand the rights entitled to us by our Constitution and laws.”
The Cobb DA’s office is in charge of prosecuting Jackie Johnson, the former Glynn prosecutor, who was indicted in September for her handling of the cases.
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