Judge Denies Bond to Father and Son Charged With Killing Ahmaud Arbery

A judge denied bond for Gregory and Travis McMichael, the father and son accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery.

The decision came down during the second day of hearings on whether the two should remain free on bail for the February killing.

Gregory and Travis McMichael charged in Ahmaud Arbery’s death

The McMichaels are charged with counts including malice murder and felony murder in the Feb. 23 shooting of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged near the coastal town of Brunswick, GA. The killing, captured on a disturbing cellphone video, drew a national outcry.

Gregory McMichael, 65, and Travis McMichael, 34, told police they chased Arbery because they thought he was a burglary suspect and acted in self-defense during the confrontation. The McMichaels were charged two and a half months after widespread social media outrage and a video that became public. The man who filmed the video, William “Roddie” Bryan, is also charged in the case.

Prosecutors played the haunting video in court, and the judge said it demonstrated that the father and son are a danger to the community.

Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told reporters after the hearing it was the first time she had seen the video.

Ahmaud had no idea that he was under attack,” Cooper-Jones said of her son, who was 25.

Cooper-Jones believes her son was killed because of his race.

A state investigator testified at a previous hearing that Bryan said he heard Travis McMichael using a racial slur as Arbery lay dying. Prosecutors during the hearing this week introduced evidence including text messages and Facebook posts in an attempt to show the defendants harbored racist beliefs, while defense attorneys pointed to a parade of witnesses who spoke in support of the father and son.

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