Photo courtesy of Octavio Jones/Reuters.
The defense lawyers for the three white men that murdered Ahmaud Arbery had the nerve to request that the judge declare a mistrial citing Ahmaud’s mom crying on Rev. Jesse Jackson’s shoulder as tainting the jury.
The ridiculous request was denied by Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley, who also ruled that Rev. Jackson had a right to be at the murderers’ trial. Defense attorney Kevin Gogh requested the court remove Rev. Jesse Jackson from the courtroom and complained that Rev. Al Sharpton had also been in court.
Jackson also defended his presence at the murder trial.
“As the judge said, it was my constitutional right to be there,” said Jackson. “It’s my moral obligation to be there.”
Rev. Jackson spoke outside of the courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, on November 15 about the defense asking for a mistrial based on his presence. President of the General Missionary Baptist Convention, Reverend Anthony Corbett, also spoke on the racist request.
“I felt very insulted. I felt belittled as pastor,” he said. “I felt belittled as a man and just as a human being.”
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Rev. Corbett also said that he felt it was the duty of other pastors to speak out during the Ahmaud Arbery trial.
“I think its really vital that the church speak up and the pastors speak up. There’s so much injustice that we don’t even know about going on in our world. I think the church as a whole should take a stand against these injustices,” said Corbett
Travis McMichael, William Bryan and Gregory McMichael hunted Arbery down in a pick-up truck and shot him three times on February 23, 2020, as he was on a jog. They shot him twice point-blank in the chest with a shotgun but have claimed self-defense. Arbery was also shot in his wrist.
Racist Greg McMichael leaked the video of them hunting and killing Arbery, which led to the trio’s arrest.