A defense attorney representing one of the three men on trial for killing Ahmaud Arbery on a Georgia road in 2020 demanded on Thursday that the Rev. Al Sharpton be removed from the courtroom, saying, We dont want any more Black pastors in here.
At the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, attorney Kevin Gough tried to argue that the civil rights activists presence was intimidating the jury, which is made up of 11 white people and one Black person. Sharpton said he came to Brunswick on Wednesday to provide support for the Arbery family during the trial, which is open to the public.
My concern is that its one thing for the family to be present. Its another thing to ask for the lawyers to be present. But if were going to bring high-profile members of the African American community into the courtroom to sit with the family during the trial in the presence of the jury, I believe thats intimidating, Gough said. And its an attempt to pressure could be consciously or unconsciously an attempt to pressure or influence the jury.
The attorney then appeared to argue that people should not have multiple pastors, requesting that the court no longer allow Black pastors to watch the trial.
To my knowledge, Rev. Al Sharpton has no church in Glynn County, never has. ... So we have all kinds of people. We have school board members, we have county commissioners, we have all kinds of pastors in this town, over 100, Gough said. And the idea that were going to be serially bringing these people in to sit with the victims family, one after another. Obviously, theres only so many pastors they can have, and if their pastors Al Sharpton right now, thats fine, but then thats it. We dont want any more Black pastors coming in here or other Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victims family trying to influence the jury in this case. (Jesse Jackson has not been in the courtroom, according to TMZ .)
The defense lawyer then began making a bizarre comparison between the presence of Black pastors and a scenario in which people dressed like Colonel Sanders with white masks would sit in the courtroom. It should be noted that, unlike Goughs reference, Black pastors arent people cosplaying as Black pastors. They are actually Black pastors.
Judge Timothy Walmsley cut off Gough while he was making the Colonel Sanders reference, saying he believed Sharptons presence had been fine because the reverend had not been a disruption or distraction to the jury or the courtroom.
The fact that nobody else even noticed that he was in here means that everybody complied with this courts rulings on sitting in this courtroom and listening to the evidence, Walmsley said. I dont hear a motion, and I will tell you this: Im not going to start blanketly excluding members of the public from this courtroom.
Sharpton joined the Arbery family in front of the courthouse on Wednesday to pray for fairness and justice in the case, saying that the men on trial Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William Roddie Bryan were fueled by racism when they chased Arbery as he ran along a road and then killed him. On Thursday, Sharpton told TMZ that Goughs behavior is an arrogant display of insensitivity and that he would make it my business to come again.
You are going to be sitting there with three men that murdered the mother and fathers child, and the families of those three that have been indicted for murder and now tell [Arberys family] they cant have the ministers of their choice to sit there and console them while theyre sitting there looking at who murdered their son, and with their families? Sharpton said. So now you not only have taken their son, you want to take those of us that will come and console them.
The parents said publicly they invited me to come. ... Ive been with them from the beginning. They have the right to be consoled by anyone, he added. We were not being disruptive, as the judge said, but the audacity, the arrogance to say that Not only are you going to have to look at your sons killers every day and their families, were going to choose who can come and console you in the courtroom. Its like pouring salt in the wound.
Gregory McMichael, his son Travis and Bryan, a neighbor, are on trial for murder in their pursuit and fatal shooting of 25-year-old Arbery last year while he was out for a run on Feb. 23, 2020, in Brunswick. Arberys death caused national outrage and contributed to the 2020 protests against racial injustice and police brutality.
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The McMichaels do not contest that they shot Arbery, but they claim self-defense . Prosecutors argue the killing was racially motivated , describing how the men chased, trapped and then killed Arbery.
Lee Merritt, the Arbery familys attorney, described to theGrio the racism that has already been occurring in the murder trial.
Well, racism played a factor in 11 of the 12 Black candidates to be a part of this jury being struck, he said. So yeah, racism reared its ugly head already in the process.
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