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TSR Trial Observation: On Thursday, the defense lawyer representing one of the three white men on trial for the fatal shooting of Ahmad Arbery opposed Rev. Al Sharpton’s appearance in court Above, implying that this would intimidate jurors.
“We don’t want any more black priests to come here,” Kevin Goff, the lawyer representing William “Rody” Bryan, told Judge Timothy Warmsley when the jury left the court.
Gough claimed that he did not know that Al Sharpton had appeared in court that day until Wednesday night, but he pleaded with the judge to take action on this, claiming that he wanted to exclude “politics” from the case.
When the court resumed after the lunch break, Goff said: “In this case, I guess he was here at the invitation of the victim’s family.” “And I have no personal opinion on Mr. Sharpton. My concern is that the family is present. It’s one thing. It’s another thing to require a lawyer to be present.”
He continued, “But if we are to set a precedent, starting from yesterday, we will bring prominent figures from the African American community to the courtroom and sit with their families during the trial in the presence of the jury. I believe this is horrific. Fear, this is an attempt to put pressure on the jury or influence the jury-it may be intentional or unintentional pressure.”
Gough added that “as far as he knows”, Al Sharpton does not have a church in Greene County, Georgia, where the trial is held “and never.”
“We have school board members, we have county commissioners, and we have various pastors in our town. There are more than 100. And we will continue to take these people with the idea of sitting with the victim’s family, one by one, obviously They can only have so many pastors,” Goff said. “If their current pastor is Al Sharpton, that’s great. Then that’s it. We don’t want to have any more black pastors here…trying to influence the jury in this situation.”
according to NBC NewsSharpton said his attendance on Wednesday was not disruptive, but was at the invitation of Ahmad Arbery’s family.
Sharpton said: “Attorney Kevin Gough arrogantly asked the judge to ban me or any family minister’s choice. This highlights the grief and disregard for the life value of the lost and the family in need of spiritual and community support.” “This is Sprinkle salt on their wounds. I respect the work of a defense lawyer, but this goes beyond defending your client. This is an insult to the victim’s family.”
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said: “The state is not involved at all.”
“This is a public court. I don’t know how Pastor Al Sharpton appeared here,” she said. “So the country doesn’t know how this happened, nor how he sat with his family.”
Judge Wormsley The defense attorney suggested that Al Sharpton did not seem to be too impressed. Walmsley said he learned on Wednesday that Sharpton would be sitting in court instead of Ahmed’s family.
“My comment on this is very simple, as long as things are not destructive and will not distract the jury or anything that happens in court, so be it,” said Wormsley. “But if it violates the court’s rules on trial conduct, or violates my order regarding people’s behavior in court, I will file a lawsuit against anyone I need.”
Walmsley added that he had noticed Sharpton, “that’s it.”
“In fact, no one even noticed that he was here, which means that everyone complied with the court’s ruling to sit in court and listen to the evidence,” Walmsley said. “I did not hear the motion. I will tell you this. I will not completely exclude the public from this court.”
Thursday is the fifth day of trial testimony. Bryan and his friends Gregory and Travis McMichael were accused of being killed in the shooting of Ahmed in February 2020.
Ahmed was shot and killed while running in the suburbs of Georgia. We will promptly notify you of any updates.
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