circumstance did they have authority to kill mr. arbery. and so defense attorneys, appellate attorneys, raise these types of issues all the time on appeal. i don t find it particularly compelling. let s bring in our friend paul butler, a legal analyst for us here, a georgetown university law professor, also a former federal prosecutor. paul, let s talk about self-defense here. we just saw last week kyle rittenhouse acquitted of killing two men and injuring another, acquitted using self-defense. and in this case, self-defense was also raised, but self-defense was not found to be justified here. explain that. so katy, every case has different facts. mr. rittenhouse persuaded the jury that each of the three men who he shot posed a deadly threat to him. he said that the first person tried to grab his gun, the
what will it look like? i think that s right, katy. i think the racial animus which may not have been as relevant as evidence in this case, certainly relevant to their motive and their conduct, but maybe not relevant to the act of shooting him, will be more relevant in the federal case, because the federal statute is different. it s not a murder statute under federal law. it s a civil rights hate crimes based statute. so that racial animus, as you said, katy, becomes relevant. i imagine we re going to see more evidence of it. and appropriately so. one other thing i would like to point out, i think your other guests are right that this question of citizens arrest may well be raised on appeal. but as a factual matter, it was completely unavailing at trial. and i think the court made a good record on that. i think the prosecution did a superb job. even if they had authority to make a citizens arrest, under no
to investigators. you have a community worried they would have nonguilty verdicts even in the face of what they saw as overwhelming evidence. you re seeing jubilation behind me, and katy, absolute relief. it is extremely intense. ck, you know georgia law, you re a trial lawyer. have you ever experienced a case where the scene of the crime was not secured, wasn t investigated, that the men were able to go home with their pickup trucks? those pickup trucks were never searched in the aftermath of this crime. that was clear obstruction of justice. and for it to have been directed by the district attorney, by the lead prosecutor, was absolutely unacceptable. that s why she is facing a trial herself. but i think what we have to take, the sense of relief, the sense of justice being served, not just for the arbery family. it means so much for this community. i represent reverend jesse jackson, have for 34 years. i represent the justice
important. and it was difficult to relinquish that control to the cobb county prosecutor s office. of course we had to under the law. and they did what they had to do to secure a conviction. i applaud them for putting on an airtight case that led to the conviction of these men. that he invited wanda and mark and you say marcus and their supporters to attend they re press conference. we re going to step back and allow the prosecutors to make a presentation about their case as we stand with them in solidarity and thank them for their efforts. it s a good example for when lee merritt is texas attorney general. [ cheers and applause ]
this was a violent murder, particularly as it came from travis mcmichael. and i also wanted to point out that the jury s voice i think was so profound in their verdict. i think they made a very conscientious verdict. and, you know, as a black female i think it s important to point out, you know, just a few years ago, a black boy couldn t go out and buy skittles. but now this jury is basically saying, but a black man can go jogging. and i don t want to minimize that by, you know, highlighting some of the appellate points. chuck rosenberg, in the federal case, when these men go to federal trial, it s going to be a hate crimes trial. are we going to see a lot more of the racial overtones, the things that were perhaps said toward ahmaud arbery in the moments or toward black people in general, in the months, days, leading up to it, the history of comments from the mcmichaels? are we going to see race play a bigger factor in that case?