Here is another video for you.
Let me summarize the lawyers arguments.
Lawyer for Travis. It was self defense. He believed he was right. He had a gut feeling about Ahmad Arbery.
Lawyer for Greg. He is not responsible for what Travis did. He was attempting to keep Arbrey in sight for police.
Lawyer for Roddy. He had no idea the McMichaels were acting unlawfully.
Every lawyer is pointing the finger at the others.
Seems reasonable
Yeah. Greg is saying don’t convict me. It was my son who killed him. He did everything. I was along for the ride. An innocent bystander.
What is hilarious. Roddy’s lawyer. Who by the way has the best chance of prevailing. Roddys Lawyer said that he had no idea the McMichaels were acting illegally. Roddy admits the McMichaels were committing crimes. His lawyer isn’t going to let his client go down on a Life Sentence because of the McMichaels.
And if you think for a minute. Greg and Travis if they were united in their defense would have one legal team to defend them both. Instead Greg’s lawyer is pointing the finger at the son and saying it is totally his fault. Greg knows Travis is going to Prison. Greg is trying to save his own hide.
The three and a half hour preliminary hearing is interesting. The GBI investigator goes through the evidence they have, and the loose ends they are tying down. The investigator says it was aggravated assault and murder. The Judge agreed after the hearing denying motions to dismiss and bail there was sufficient evidence to keep this thing moving.
The racism won’t be as big of an issue in the trial. A bit to show motivation. To establish intent for Roddy. During the sentencing phase after the conviction. Travis is getting life without parole.
Roddy. I said he has the best chance. Establishing intent to commit false imprisonment is going to be tough. Honestly that one is the only one I see a coin toss chance at either no bill from the grand jury or Not Guilty in the trial. I honestly think he has a fifty fifty chance.
Travis is screwed. Daddy is screwed. Travis will get life without parole unless he decides to Testify. Then he has about one chance in ten of getting Death. Daddy will get life.
Here is the problem with the Defense and a Jury. If you hold the McMichaels guilty for the Aggravated Assault you have to find them guilty of the Murder. If you find Roddy was a party to this via the chase and effort to block. Then you have to find him guilty of murder too.
Unless the Cops lie or there is prosecutorial misconduct. The McMichaels are going to prison. Roddy might make it out bankrupt and homeless.
Again we will see
The Judge listened to the evidence. A three and a half hour Period of questions and answers. The State essentially laid out their case so far, and if there was a chance of getting them out, at least on bail, it was here.
The evidence is damning. Travis’ excuse for shooting absent any first hand knowledge of a crime? His “gut feeling”. A gut feeling is not admissible in court. Facts, truth, and evidence is. A Gut Feeling is not sufficient to effect a Citizens Arrest. A Gut feeling gets you sent to prison.
So Travis is going to prison. I said above that Roddy had a fifty fifty chance. I am going to give you my equally honest assessment of everyones chances.
Odds of Travis going to prison? 98% plus. Unless the police lie, mishandle evidence, or hide evidence the statements and videos are going to be in the record, and that will damn him. His foundation for his defense is simply not going to fly with the Jury. I figure that in this case, a two percent chance that the cops will be caught in a lie, or the prosecutor will withhold some of the Brady Evidence he is supposed to cough up. Most probable of the options for sentencing? Life without Parole.
Greg. 90% plus. The idea he went along and was a sort of good citizen innocent bystander when his son committed the crimes isn’t going to fly. He is in his sixties, so the jury might feel sorry enough to give him a pass, but unlikely. Most probable sentence, Life.
Roddy. As I said, coin toss. I think they can get an indictment against him. Since by his own statement he tried to block AA with his car, it is going to be tricky to explain he thought he was doing the right thing. But it is possible. His best chance is to argue the knows the McMichaels and thought they were good and decent law abiding folks. He had no idea they were in a commission of a crime when he tried to help being a good Neighbor. Here, the Citizens Arrest Reasonable Belief comes into play.
Reasonable Belief is when some one rushes up to you and says that that guy is trying to kill me. You would be reasonable to believe him. Roddy can argue, and the Jury might buy the idea that Roddy was acting on Reasonable Belief. It is his best chance to get out of it. His lawyer seems to be taking that course. It’s all them, he was innocent and did not know they were acting in an unlawful manner.
Roddy’s lawyer knows that the McMichaels committed crimes. Something that has been hard to accept for you.
If convicted of the Murder. There are three sentences possible. Life. Life without parole. Death. I don’t think the prosecutor is going to push for Death very hard. Not because he doesn’t want to see the offender on death row. But because there are a ton of restrictions on what kind of trial, lawyer, and instructions for the juries that can be given during a Death Penalty Trial that do not exist for Life without Parole.
I still honestly believe that Roddy has a fifty fifty chance, but he is the only one with any sliver of hope to get out of this without prison.
Oh, and the argument that AA was stealing stuff from the workers? Think for a minute. You leave your stuff at the job site. You come back the next day and find a saw missing. You might not file a police report, but you damn sure would not leave tools there ever again.
When I had guys out to the house repairing Hurricane Damage, in an isolated rural area, with very few neighbors, they still locked their tools into a trailer, put a hitch lock on the trailer to keep it from being drug away. And they ran a chain through the wheels to keep them from turning. They did all this after insuring that the trailer was in view of one of my cameras.
Now if the workers came back the next morning, and found the tool storage broken into and damaged, they would have called the cops. Unless they were illegal aliens, and were afraid of the police. In which case it might be the first time in History that you were on the side of the Illegals.