Travis McMichael were not happy that Arbery was running down their street. George McMichael called 911, and told the operator that there was a black man in his neighborhood, and that he was going to confront him. Apparently, the McMichaels told Arbery to stop so they could

talk, and it seems the McMichaels (a) believe that they have the authority to order anyone to stop if they feel like it, and (b) are incapable of conversing without brandishing firearms. It seems like Arbery was uninterested in having a conversation with them, and kept going -

but the McMichaels were unsatisfied, and decided to track him in a truck and block him off. The McMichaels say that there had been a series of burglaries in the neighborhood. While that doesn’t matter in the slightest, there is also no evidence that this claim is even

true. And even if it were true that there had been burglaries in the neighborhood, there is no evidence that there was even a reliable witness’ description of any burglar. And even if there were, the McMichaels’ claim that Arbery “matched” the description of the putative burglar

wouldn’t give the McMichaels the authority to stop him for the crime of jogging. But they did more than stop him without any authority. They put a shotgun in his face, and when he tried to push the muzzle away from himself, he was shot and murdered. This happened on February 23

and apparently the local police took some statements. It turns out that Gregory McMichael works for the local District Attorney, Jackie L. Johnson. He is a retired police officer who is an investigator for her office. She decided not to bother prosecuting her employee and

blessed the murder as an act of self-defense. It seems that McMichael knew the proper police script for killing an unarmed, fleeing man: that he “made a motion for his waistband” and that he “feared for his life.” It looked like it would end there, but then some evidence was

leaked to the press, a video showing that it was clearly a murder. Before that happened, the Glynn County Sheriff’s office considered the case closed. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation saw no need to investigate. But after the leak, the Glynn County

Sheriff’s office found a reason to call in the GBI - not for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery that they covered up, but for the anonymous threats they allegedly received for covering up the murder. Before that, the authorities’ official stance had been that the McMichaels had simply

followed the provisions of Georgia’s citizens’ arrest statutes. But following all the bad publicity and calls for an investigation of the murder, DA Jackie Johnson decided that she had to recuse herself because of her close relationship with the McMichaels. In other words, her

relationship was arm’s length enough to completely exonerate the McMichaels, but too close to charge them. So Georgia put in DA Pro Tempore Tom Durden, who decided that he would empanel a grand jury to investigate. DA Durden feels that there is not enough probable cause to

bring charges outright, but concedes that a grand jury might find probable cause that he can’t find. Of course, because of the pandemic, a grand jury cannot be convened for months. In the meantime, the McMichaels are not even under house arrest. So the McMichaels have had

ten weeks to clean up their truck and their weapons, and dispose of their clothes or any other evidence, to intimidate any witnesses, to coordinate their testimony, to destroy records, etc. Everyone in Georgia law enforcement - municipal, county, and state conspired to protect

murderers, and only their own incompetence has managed to potentially unravel the crime. The institutional rot in the state is thorough: even the man called in from outside to address the corruption has bolstered it.

@Sartor1836 @gruber @threadreaderapp unroll please

@Sartor1836 Read EVERY post in this tread. #AhmaudArbery

@Sartor1836 I didn’t need to read beyond “It turns out that Gregory McMichael works for the local District Attorney, Jackie L. Johnson. He is a retired police officer who is an investigator for her office.” To know Jackie johnson needs to have a visit from the SBI and/or FBI.

@Sartor1836 This story is horrible. despicable that the justice system had to be shamed into pursuing charges. Who is the person videoing the murder and why were they there?