TSR Updatez: A new bombshell revelation out of Ahmaud Arbery’s case has revealed that Gregory McMichael, one of the men charged in Ahmaud’s murder, had reportedly previously investigated him when he worked for the district attorney’s office.
Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill revealed in his letter of recusal from the case that his son, a prosecutor in the Brunswick District Attorney’s office, and Gregory McMichael, who was once an investigator in the same office, “both helped with the previous prosecution of Arbery,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
McMichael, a former Glynn County cop, told Glynn police that he recognized 25-year-old Ahmaud from surveillance video that captured a recent burglary in his mostly white neighborhood and planned to make a citizen’s arrest.
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But when Ahmaud was in high school, McMichael reportedly investigated Ahmaud, who was sentenced to five years probation as a first offender on charges of carrying a weapon on campus and several counts of obstructing a law enforcement officer.
McMichael, who retired from the DA’s office a little more than a year ago, made no mention of his work on that investigation to police, though it’s unknown if he remembered it at the time.
Barnhill wrote that he learned about his son and McMichael’s ties to Ahmaud “three or four weeks” earlier.
He didn’t say why he waited so long to recuse himself but claimed “a local ‘rabble rouser’ has taken up this cause by publishing wild and factually incorrect and legally wrong accusations on Facebook and other social media formats calling for marches and physical affronts be made against the McMichaels at their homes, and his son’s home.
It was a crucial decision, according to Ahmaud’s family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, who said, “the case would’ve been no billed to a grand jury and the McMichaels would’ve gotten away with murder.”
In a letter to Glynn County police, Barnhill wrote that criminal charges were unwarranted against Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, who appeared to fire all three shots, and a third man, William Bryan, who helped them corner Ahmaud on February 23rd.
The prosecutor claimed Ahmaud, who was unarmed, initiated contact with Travis McMichael.
“This family are not strangers to the local criminal justice system,” Barnhill wrote in his letter to Carr. “From best we can tell, Ahmaud’s older brother has gone to prison in the past and is currently in the Glynn jail, without bond, awaiting new felony prosecution. It also appears a cousin has been prosecuted by DA Johnson’s office.”
Merritt wanted to know what that had to do with Ahmaud’s shooting.
“This speaks to the wider issue of mass incarceration,” Merritt said. “If black people have any kind of criminal record somehow that justifies their murder.”
We’ll have to see how this new information will play out in this case. Want tea directly in your text inbox? Hit us up at 917-722-8057 or click here to join!
