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Home · News

Defense Team Called "Desperate" After Describing Ahmaud Arbery's Toenails, Saying He Wasn't A Victim

Defense attorney Laura Hogue described Ahmaud Arbery's "long, dirty toenails," in closing argument. Arbery's father called the defense team "desperate."
Defense Team Called “Desperate” After Describing Ahmaud Arbery’s Toenails, Saying He Wasn’t A Victim
Photo by Octavio Jones-Pool/Getty Images
By Malaika Jabali · Updated November 23, 2021

Defense attorneys for the men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery finished closing arguments Monday, and remarks from the attorney representing Gregory McMichael is raising eyebrows.

Attorney Laura Hogue said that “[t]urning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made does not reflect the reality of what brought Ahmaud Arbery to Satilla Shores in his khaki shorts, with no socks, to cover his long dirty toe nails.”

The remarks drew criticism from Arbery’s parents. “They got no defense ground, so she trying anything. They desperate, so we already know that. So, all we want is justice. Justice for Ahmaud,” Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., stated.

“That was just beyond rude. Regardless of what kind of toe nails he had, what size legs he had, that was still my son. And my son actually was running for his life in that description. I thought that was just, flat out just rude,” Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones said in a press conference.

As NBC news affiliate 11Alive noted:

Defense attorneys have focused on Arbery allegedly being seen on videos entering onto the property of an unfinished home a number of times in the months leading up to his death. There is no evidence Arbery ever took anything or committed any damage at the home, and the owner had maintained before the trial he did not suspect Arbery of taking anything.

Greg McMichael along with his son Travis McMichael and William Bryan, Jr. are charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment after killing Ahmaud Arbery on February 23, 2020 in south Georgia.

It took more than two months for the McMichaels to be apprehended for the killing.

TOPICS:  Ahmaud Arbery
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