Graphic Ahmaud Arbery autopsy photos shown to jurors as medical examiner takes the stand

Jurors were shown Ahmaud Abery’s autopsy photographs on Tuesday during the murder trial. Three White men chased him down before he was fatally shot in their neighborhood last year. Prosecutors called Dr. Edmund Donoghue, who examined Arbery’s body on February 24, 2020 — the day after he was slain — as a witness.

Donoghue affirmed that Arbery was injured by two of the three shots fired at him from his shotgun. He claimed that both gunshots caused severe bleeding, which could have resulted in the death of the 25-year old.

Donoghue explained that the first shot at close range punctured an artery in Arbery’s wrist and left a hole in the middle of his chest. The second shot went completely miss, and the third shot shot at point blank range ripped through an artery and vein near Arbery’s left armpit and fractured bones on his shoulder and upper arms.

“Is there anything law enforcement, EMS could have done to save his lives on the scene?” Linda Dunikoski, prosecutor, asked the medical examiner.

“I don’t believe so. Donoghue said no.

The jury saw close-up photographs of Arbery’s injuries. They included several large abrasions to his face from the time he fell facedown onto the street after the third gunshot. Photos of his clothing showed that his T-shirt was completely stained red. It was white as evidenced by cell phone video.

Travis McMichael, his father and son, armed themselves to pursue the 25-year old in a pickup truck. They spotted him running in their neighborhood on February 23, 2019. Their neighbor William Bryan joined them in the chase and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael filming Arbery.

Defense attorneys claim that the men had the right to make a citizen’s arrest of anyone they suspected of stealing from their neighborhood. The younger McMichael also fired the gun in self defense after Arbery tried taking it from him.

Tuesday testimony was held after the judge refused a mistrial to be declared over defense claims that jurors had been tainted because Arbery’s mother wept over evidence photographs. Attention to the Reverend Jesse Jackson being presentShe was sat beside her in the courtroom’s public gallery.

Kevin Gough, defense attorney asked Monday’s judge to allow the civil rights leader to leave in order not to unfairly influence the jury. All but one of the jurors are white. 

Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley dismissed the defense’s allegations about Black pastors at trial as “reprehensible”. He said that no group would ever be excluded from his courtroom.

Jackson acknowledged Monday that Arbery’s mom wept “very quietly” in the courtroom when prosecutors showed a photograph of her son to a witness.

Jackson later stated outside the courthouse, “As the judge stated, it was my constitutional rights to be there.” “It’s my moral obligation that I be there.”

Last week, Al Sharpton, the Reverend, sat in the Glynn County courtroom with Wanda Cooper Jones and Marcus Arbery Sr. He promised to return to the courthouse and activists stated that 100 Black pastors would join him.

Sharpton has criticised the The jury is composed disproportionately of white members. He said last week his attendance was “not disruptive in any way” and was “at the invitation of the family.”

Monday’s testimony from Lawrence Kelly, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations special agents, was emotional for Cooper Joness. According to the courtroom pool reporter, she bowed and held Reverend Jackson’s hands as Kelly and prosecutors reviewed frame by frame cell phone footage from the shooting. When high-contrast footage at both slow and regular speeds was admitted into evidence, she also closed her eyes.

Bryan and the McMichaels have been charged with murder, among other crimes. Prosecutors claim they chased Arbery around for five minutes in an attempt to prevent him from leaving the Satilla Shores subdivision, just outside of Brunswick. Arbery, who was being followed by Bryan’s truck tried to run around McMichaels truck as it sat on the road ahead. The video shows Travis McMichael confronting Arbery, and then shooting him while he throws punches at the gun.

After Arbery was caught on security cameras five houses away, the McMichaels claimed they believed he was a thief.