Authorities in the southern US state of Georgia said Friday they had “more than sufficient probable cause” to charge two white men over the killing of an unarmed black jogger, but did not explain why it took 74 days for the suspects to be detained.Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were arrested late Thursday and charged with murder and aggravated assault in the February 23 death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery.Arbery’s death in the coastal city of Brunswick, captured in a video that…

SAVANNAH, Ga: More than two months after a black man was shot to death while jogging on a Sunday afternoon, Georgia investigators conceded that the facts show enough evidence to jail a white father and son on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault, a UK based news agency reported.The...

More than two months after a black man was shot to death while jogging on a Sunday afternoon, Georgia investigators conceded that the facts show enough evidence to jail a white father and son on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault.  The investigation appeared stalled by local author...

NFL greats Tom Brady and Anquan Boldin were among dozens of prominent players and coaches who called on Friday for a federal investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was shot while running in Georgia.

SAVANNAH, Georgia—Allegations Friday that a Georgia district attorney blocked police officers from arresting the killers of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery were just the latest blow to a local law enforcement apparatus that has been rocked by a series of troubling and deadly scandals.

Brunswick DA Jackie Johnson’s office allegedly prevented the Glynn County Police Department from arresting Travis and Gregory McMichael in connection with the shooting death of Arbery, an unarmed black man, in late February, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Johnson has recused herself from that case. But one Glynn County commissioner suggested she personally intervened in early plans to make arrests “to protect her friend” Gregory McMichael. McMichael was a former cop and investigator in the Brunswick DA’s office for 25 years who had reportedly investigated Arbery in the past. 

It is far from the first time the office—and local law enforcement more generally—had come under scathing scrutiny. 

Read more at The Daily Beast.

I was not surprised either that it took two-plus months for arrests to come of two men and murder charges in the case. This only after the GBI was rightly called in.

An attorney who consulted with the defendants leaked video of the shooting to a local radio station, it was revealed Friday.

Systemic flaws within Glynn county’s district attorney offices led to a lack of action against the men involved in this ‘modern lynching’In the days and weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed, multiple Glynn county law enforcement officials failed to thoroughly investigate his death and, in one case, refused to allow police officers to make arrests, the Guardian has learned.Arbery, 25, was jogging through the neighborhood just outside Brunswick, Georgia, on 23 February when he was shot dead by two white men. Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were charged with murder and aggravated assault on Thursday evening, after graphic video footage of the killing was released publicly and sparked national outrage.Lawyers for Arbery’s family have called the killing a “modern lynching” and decried the lack of action in the case prior to the release of the video, pointing to racial inequalities in the criminal justice system.In the police report, Gregory McMichael claimed Arbery “violently attacked” his son, who shot Arbery in self defense.Jackie Johnson, the Glynn county district attorney, refused to allow police officers who responded to arrest the two men, Glynn county commissioner Peter Murphy told the Guardian in a phone call on Friday.The police department was put in touch with one of Johnson’s assistant district attorneys after the shooting, but Johnson made the decision not to charge the father and son, the former having worked in her office for more than 20 years, Murphy said.“The police at the scene went to her, saying they were ready to arrest both of them,” Allen Booker, the Glynn county district 5 commissioner, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “These were the police at the scene who had done the investigation. She shut them down to protect her friend McMichael.”Days later, Johnson recused herself. Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. By 27 February, George Barnhill, the Waycross judicial district attorney, and the second of three DAs on the case, took over. Less than 24 hours after seeing the video and evidence compiled by the police, Murphy said, Barnhill decided to not charge the McMichaels.“And so within 24 hours the Glynn county police had been told by two separate DA offices not to make any arrests,” Murphy said. “And obviously, they want to assume no responsibility for their actions.”On 2 April, Barnhill sent an email to law enforcement authorities saying the 25-year-old Arbery had an “apparent aggressive nature” and that his family were “not strangers to the local criminal justice system”.“Arbery’s mental health records & prior convictions help explain his apparent aggressive nature and his possible thought pattern to attack an armed man,” Barnhill said in the email, which was first reported by the New York Times.“What it appears is he was purposely trying to assault the character of the victim and there’s just no reason why,” said Chris Stewart, one of the lawyers representing Arbery’s family.The family have pointed to the McMichaels’ connection to local law enforcement both at the district attorney’s office and police department as evidence of systemic flaws and roadblocks in their search for justice. It was only after the video of Arbery’s death was released this week that the third DA’s office requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) get involved.On Friday, GBI director Vic Reynolds told reporters he could not “answer what another agency did or didn’t see” in the first two months of the investigation.“But I can tell you that based on our involvement in this case and considering the fact we hit the ground running Wednesday morning and within 36 hours we had secured warrants for two individuals for felony murder, I think that speaks volumes for itself.”In a 7 April email sent to the office of Georgia attorney general Chris Carr, Barnhill recused himself because his son worked on a case involving Arbery while working in Johnson’s office.Lee Merritt, one of the lawyers who represents Arbery’s family, said Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, found the connection between Barnhill’s son and her own on Facebook and brought it to the attention of his office.“She followed the links. That’s exactly how it happened,” he said to the Guardian on Friday by phone.According to a police report filed 23 February, Gregory and Travis McMichael grabbed their weapons, a .357 Magnum revolver and a shotgun, jumped into a truck and followed Arbery as he ran.In the email to Carr from early April, Barnhill references a “decent cell phone video of the entire shooting incident”, an apparent reference to the one leaked this week.Reynolds said on Friday that the investigation into the shooting, the video and the person who filmed it, would continue.“Every stone will be uncovered,” Reynolds said.

Justice in case of 25-year-old black male delayed amid COVID-19 response. Apparently in Georgia bowling and tattooing are more essential.

NFL greats Tom Brady and Anquan Boldin were among dozens of prominent players and coaches who called on Friday for a federal investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed black man who was shot while running in Georgia.

Arbery, who would have turned 26 on Friday, was shot to death after being chased by two men who thought he was a burglar.

The graphic video of Ahmaud Arbery being shot on a residential Georgia street was fed to the media by a lawyer who was friends with the two men who were charged with the killing, according to a report.

The NFL Players Coalition and other athletes and coaches called on the Justice Department and the FBI to launch a federal investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in a letter Friday.

Georgia State Bureau of Investigation has arrested suspects in the shooting death of an unarmed black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery. It would have been Arbery's 26th birthday on Friday.

People across the country dedicated 2.23 miles to show solidarity for Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot and killed on Feb. 23 while jogging in Georgia. Two men have been charged with murdering Arbery.

Elie Mystal

The post We Didn’t Need Video to Know Ahmaud Arbery Was Lynched appeared first on The Nation.

This Friday, May 8 would've marked Ahmaud Arbery's 26th birthday. And though he's no longer with them, the Arbery family is finding comfort in the fact that Georgia state...

This Friday, May 8 would've marked Ahmaud Arbery's 26th birthday. And though he's no longer with them, the Arbery family is finding comfort in the fact that Georgia state...

A district attorney is recommending a grand jury review.

The former Vice President spoke out.

Lee Merritt refers to George Barnhill’s conduct as “evil.”

“We’re literally hunted every day.”

Lawmakers are reacting with outrage to the February killing

"We’re literally hunted everyday."

She has not been able to watch the horrifying video

The 25-year-old was gunned down while jogging.

The father and son gunned down Arbery on February 23.

He addressed it during an Oval Office press gaggle.

The Atlanta Track Club wants him to be remembered.

Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed on February 23.

May 8 would have been his 26th birthday.

The arrests followed the release of a video of the February incident which sparked national outcry.

Georgia authorities arrested a white father and son on Thursday (US time) and charged them with murder in the February shooting death of a black man they had pursued in a truck after spotting him running in their neighbourhood.The...

The white father and son stood quietly on Friday (US time) as the judge read murder and aggravated assault charges against them in the fatal shooting of a black man who was running through their Georgia neighbourhood. In just a few...

Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down by two white men while jogging in Georgia. The #IRunWithMaud campaign honors his life with a 2.23-mile run or walk.

This Friday, May 8 would've marked Ahmaud Arbery's 26th birthday. And though he's no longer with them, the Arbery family is finding comfort in the fact that Georgia state...

Artivist Nikkolas Smith combines personal storytelling with issues of national significance in his work.

More than two months after an unarmed black man was shot in south Georgia, protesters across America are asking why it took so long for police to investigate.

For many Americans, Arbery's killing harks back to the old Jim Crow days when white mobs hunted black men down and killed them with impunity. In Brunswick, the shooting has sparked an uneasy conversation about race and power.

5/8 -- Arbery's murder suspects just went before the judge via video conference to face their charges. However, a Glynn County Magistrate clerk says that Gregory and Travis McMichael were denied bond today during their initial hearing due to the…

The two white men caught on camera shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, were arrested and charged Thursday with murder. The arrests came two days after video of the attack in February was shared with the public, sparking widespread outrage. Today would have been Arbery's 26th birthday. We speak with civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the Arbery family and formerly represented Trayvon Martin.

Systemic flaws within Glynn county’s district attorney offices led to a lack of action against the men involved in this ‘modern lynching’

In the days and weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed, multiple Glynn county law enforcement officials failed to thoroughly investigate his death and, in one case, refused to allow police officers to make arrests, the Guardian has learned.

Related: Ahmaud Arbery is dead because Americans think black men are criminals | Benjamin Dixon

Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, will not face hate crime charges. Here's why.

President Trump said he had watched the video of Ahmaud Arbery being shot and found it “heartbreaking,” but he has confidence in the Georgia legal system.

People have been dedicating their workouts to Ahmaud Arbery who was shot and killed while out jogging.

Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson blocked police from arresting a father and son for the murder of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, 25, because one of them used to work on her office.

Exclusive photos show the moment Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 34, were arrested at their home in Brunswick, Georgia, on Thursday.

Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson blocked police from arresting a father and son for the murder of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, 25, because one of them used to work on her office.