Self-Defense or Manslaughter

Two men follow another man running in their neighbor with guns then shoot him after an altercation.

According to a police report, the man, Gregory McMichael, 64, called out to his son, Travis McMichael, 34. They grabbed their weapons, a .357 magnum revolver and a shotgun, jumped into a truck and began following Mr. Arbery.

“Stop, stop,” they shouted at Mr. Arbery, “we want to talk to you.”

Moments later, after a struggle over the shotgun, Mr. Arbery was killed, shot at least twice.

Moments later, after a struggle over the shotgun, Mr. Arbery was killed, shot at least twice.

This changes my initial reaction.

Without hearing all the evidence and all the witnesses and such . . . hard to make a call.

Where they correct in chasing after him WITH guns? No
During a strugle could it be considered justified to shoot the person you where chasing? Yes. Was it in this case? See what I put above.

Mr. Barnhill said this video, which has not been made public, shows Mr. Arbery attacking Travis McMichael after he and his father pulled up to him in their truck.

The video shows Mr. Arbery trying to grab the shotgun from Travis McMichael’s hands, Mr. Barnhill wrote. And that, he argued, amounts to self-defense under Georgia law. Travis McMichael, Mr. Barnhill concluded, “was allowed to use deadly force to protect himself.”

And there calls in the question of murder of justified. They pull up, dead man tries to grab the gun from one of the idiots.

Manslaughter

Not nearly enough details in that article to make any decision.

It’s also at least questionably written with a clear anti gun/racial bias.

“The grabbed their guns”. Where is the evidence of that? Not uncommon for people to carry a handgun or have a shotgun in their truck especially in rural areas.

What instigated the physical altercation? Did they chase this guy down and tackle him intiating a scuffle or did they simply engage him to see who he was and why he was running through the neighborhood? If he took that as some sort of slight and started a fight over it he was probably justifiably killed because when you attack someone who’s carrying lawfully that is an aggravated assault the second you attempt to disarm them.

How about just letting the investigation play out rather than jumping to conclusions?

1 Like

If they were lawfully present and acting lawfully having guns is of zero consequence in determining if this was a justifiable homicide.

1 Like

Based on what set of facts and law?

1 Like

Why were they chasing him?

We don’t know for sure, not enough facts in the article to judge.

1 Like

Care to explain your train or thought or are you going to go with your patented 1 word posts?

Ahmaud Arbery was running through the neighborhood while wearing a bandana. Gregory McMichael is a retired investigator and he was chose to follow Arbery in order to determine if a citizens arrest was warranted.

Assumption not supported by fact.

It appears they were just trying to see why a stranger was running through the neighborhood and it turned ugly. Not enough evidence here to say for sure either way.

1 Like

Everybody says they struggled for the gun.

Have you seen their statements and police reports as to what occurred?

1 Like

That doesn’t mean they were trying to arrest him when they started to follow him. It’s simply a justification for the conclusion of events.

1 Like

Yes we get that so what’s the point?

1 Like

The most interesting part of that article was the last paragraph. There’s a lot more to this than the “reporter” reported.

2 Likes

You did look at the source didn’t you Phil? :grinning:

1 Like

Anyone find an alternate link than the NYT? Can’t read it without a subscription and I’ll not give them a dime or a single piece of personal information to log in. :smiley: