(Adds missing word in third paragraph to read Georgia General Assembly)
By Rich McKay
ATLANTA (Reuters) -Georgia overhauled a Civil War-era law Wednesday that allowed residents to arrest anyone they suspected of committing a crime - a citizens arrest law invoked by the defense of the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery last year.
The Arbery case garnered international outrage with civil rights activists saying it marked yet another example of a targeted attack on Black man.
The Georgia General Assembly approved the bill across party lines by wide margins in both the House and Senate, and now it is headed to Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has said he will sign it.
Updated: 3:40 AM EDT April 1, 2021
ATLANTA Georgia lawmakers exited noisily into the night a little after midnight Wednesday.
The Senate and House did it with the traditional blizzard of paper – the release of forty days worth of work that will mostly go dormant until January 2022.
Before they left, lawmakers passed a Republican bill that would prevent local governments from making steep cuts in police budgets. And they passed a bipartisan bill that would repeal Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law – first enacted in 1863. It makes clear that deadly force is not a force that can be used in these matters of defending property, state Rep. Bert Reeves (R-Marietta) told the House before passage.
Black man s death moves Georgia to end citizen s arrest law
JEFF AMY and BEN NADLER, Associated Press
March 31, 2021
FacebookTwitterEmail 3
1of3FILE - Wanda Cooper-Jones holds a candle for her son, Ahmaud Arbery, accompanied by her brother, Imus Holmes. at the New Springfield Baptist Church in Waynesboro, Ga., on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, marking the one year anniversary of Arbery s death in Brunswick, Ga. Georgia lawmakers voted Wednesday, March 31, 2021 to repeal Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law after the law was raised as a defense for the men accused of shooting Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, Georgia in February 2020.Lewis M. Levine/APShow MoreShow Less
Primary Content
Caption Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Marietta, speaks about his bill largely repealing citizen’s arrests in Georgia just before its final passage in the state House of Representatives on March 31, 2021 Credit: Beau Evans/Capitol Beat
Legislation repealing Georgia’s 150-year-old citizen’s arrest law gained final passage in the General Assembly Wednesday.
On the final day of this year’s legislative session, the state House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill supported by Gov. Brian Kemp and legislative leaders as a follow-up to the hate-crimes law the General Assembly enacted last year.
The measure stems from the shooting death last year of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black jogger who was cornered near Brunswick by two white men in pickup trucks and shot dead. The defendants have cited the citizen’s arrest law in their defense.
A bipartisan bill that repeals key parts of Georgia's citizen's arrest law is heading for the governor's desk. The state House of Representative gave final approval Wednesday, the final day of the legislative session. The citizen's arrest law in Georgia dates back to the 1860s. It came into the spotlight last year