The three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery face charges of both malice murder and felony murder.

Arbery, and that the defendant Travis McMichael was acting in self-defense when he fatally shot him.

Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was unarmed when the men chased him.

McMichael, 35; his father; Gregory McMichael, 65, and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — have pleaded not guilty to charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Arbery “because he was a Black man running down the street.” Robert Rubin, a lawyer for Travis McMichael, has said the men were acting on a “duty and responsibility” to protect their families and neighborhood.

The jurors got the case midday Tuesday and headed home after 6 p.m., planning to resume deliberations on Wednesday morning.

Unlike malice murder, prosecutors do not need to show “deliberate intention” to kill to prove felony murder.

In this case, if the jury finds a defendant guilty of one of the lesser felonies, like aggravated assault, jurors would then have the discretion to also find that defendant guilty of felony murder.

Miller said, “jurors rightly or wrongly view felony murder a lesser charge than malice murder, because malice murder requires the intent to kill, and felony murder does not.”.

However, she noted, both malice murder and felony murder carry similar potential sentences.

In this case, the men could face life in prison for felony murder alone.

23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was shot and killed after being chased by three white men while jogging near his home on the outskirts of Brunswick, Ga.

Three white men — Gregory McMichael, 67, his 35-year-old son, Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan, 52 — stand accused of murdering Mr.

With an unsettling video set to play a starring role in court, the case bears similarities to that of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer found guilty of murdering George Floyd.

After an extraordinarily long process, 12 jurors in the case were selected.

Dunikoski beseeched jurors to find the men guilty on the facts, and not because they were “good or bad” people