Ahmaud Arbery Case Verdict Transcript: All 3 Men Found Guilty of Murder

Judge Timothy Walmsley: (00:05) Let's go ahead and get the panel. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (00:05) (silence) Speaker 2: (02:14) All rise for the jury. You may be seated. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (03:04) All right. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. Madam Foreperson, I understand you have reached a verdict as to each defendant? Madam Foreperson: (03:12) We have, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (03:13) Please hand your verdict forms to the sheriff. Thank you. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (03:14) (silence) Judge Timothy Walmsley: (03:57) All right. I'm going to go ahead and address each one of these verdict forms separately. The first verdict form I have is the State of Georgia versus Travis McMichael. Mr. McMichael, just please stand. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (04:12) Verdict is as follows. In the superior court of Glynn County, State of Georgia, the State of Georgia versus Travis McMichael, case number CR000433. Jury verdict form. Count one, malice murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Speaker 4: (04:37) Woo. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (04:37) I'm going to ask that whoever just made an outburst be removed from the court, please. Speaker 4: (04:51) [crosstalk 00:04:51] Judge Timothy Walmsley: (05:15) As this court has indicated, I ask that there be no outbursts in the court, and I expect as much from the gallery. Please respect the court's desire for this as we move forward. If you feel like you need to make a comment or otherwise demonstrate with respect to the verdict, I do ask that you step out of the courtroom now. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (05:36) Count two, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant Travis McMichael guilty. Count three, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Count four, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Count five, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Count six, aggravated assault. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Count seven, aggravated assault. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Count eight, false imprisonment. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Count nine, criminal attempt to commit a felony. We, the jury find the defendant, Travis McMichael, guilty. Dated this 24th day of November, 2021 signed by the foreperson. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (06:32) Have a seat. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (06:41) As to Gregory McMichael. In the superior court of Glynn County, the State of Georgia versus Greg McMichael, case number CR2000433. Jury verdict form. Count one, malice murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, not guilty. Count two, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count three, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count four, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count five, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count six, aggravated assault. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count seven, aggravated assault. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count eight, false imprisonment. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty. Count nine, criminal attempt to commit a felony. We, the jury find the defendant, Greg McMichael, guilty, this 24th day of November, 2021 signed by the foreperson. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (08:08) As to William R. Bryan, in the superior court of Glynn county, State of Georgia, State of Georgia versus William R. Bryan, case number CR2000433, jury verdict form. Count one, malice murder. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, not guilty. Count two, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, not guilty. Count three, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, guilty. Count four, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, guilty. Count five, felony murder. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, guilty. Count six, aggravated assault. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, not guilty. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (09:07) Count seven, aggravated assault. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, guilty. Count eight, false imprisonment. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, guilty. Count nine, criminal attempt to commit a felony. We, the jury find the defendant, William R. Bryan, guilty. Signed this 24th day of November by the foreperson. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (09:35) Go ahead, have a seat. Court having read the verdicts and accepted the verdicts, anything from the State? Speaker 5: (09:43) No, your honor. Nothing from the State. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (09:45) Anything from the Defense? Speaker 6: (09:47) We ask the jury be polled, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (09:49) Do a [inaudible 00:09:50]. Defendants ask the jury be polled. Speaker 5: (09:53) [crosstalk 00:09:53]. Speaker 6: (09:53) To be polled. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (09:54) All right, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to ask each of you individually a set of two questions with respect to the verdicts that I have just read. If you could please respond when you hear your juror number? Juror number one, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number one: (10:16) Yes, sir. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (10:17) Juror number two, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number two: (10:27) Yes, sir. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (10:28) I can't... Okay. Two. Juror number three, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number three: (10:39) Yes. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (10:40) Juror number four, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number four: (10:47) Yes, sir. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (10:49) Juror number five, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number five: (10:57) Yes, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (10:58) Juror number seven. You have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number seven: (11:06) Yes, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (11:08) Juror number eight, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number eight: (11:15) Yes, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (11:17) Juror number nine, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number nine: (11:24) Yes, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (11:26) Juror number 10, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number 10: (11:36) Yes, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (11:36) Juror number 11, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number 11: (11:44) Yes, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (11:46) Juror number 12, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number 12: (11:55) Yes, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (11:56) Juror 16, you have heard the verdicts read. Were these your verdicts then and are these your verdicts now? Juror number 16: (12:03) Yes, sir. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (12:04) The jury has been polled. Anything further from the Defense? Speaker 6: (12:08) No, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (12:08) From Greg McMichael? Speaker 19: (12:09) No, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (12:10) From Mr. Bryan? Speaker 20: (12:11) No, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (12:13) All right. Ladies and gentlemen, what that means with the court having accepted your verdict is that your role in this case is now at an end. What we're going to do today is I'm going to have all of you, the panel and the three alternates, go ahead and retire into the jury room. I'm going to address a couple matters logistically with you in the jury room once we get done here. But before we do that and before I excuse you, I do want to thank you publicly for your service here in Glynn County. It has been a long trial, and I appreciate the fact that you have been attentive. You've listened to the evidence. That is what we ask in this court. It's a very simple ask in a very complex way, so it's appreciated. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (12:56) When we all got together, I say we all got together. When we got together at different times, I said that I was going to thank you a number of times and how I was going to tell you I do truly appreciate your time here. Hopefully, you understand why I said that when we started. I do also hope that you got a little bit of an insight into goes on in a trial and maybe understand a little bit more of how important it is for members of our community to come down and be part of this process and serve as jurors in this community. So again, thank you for that service and I'll come address y'all in just a moment. You are excused. Speaker 2: (13:33) All rise for the jury. Speaker 2: (13:33) Be seated. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (14:07) All right. It is this court's usual practice with regard to sentencing to go ahead and give everybody some time to put together what they need to put together for a full sentencing hearing. I'm going to have to look at the schedule and see how that works with my schedule up in Chatham County and the schedule here in Glynn County. I'll get back to everybody about some dates and see what works with respect to dates. That should give everybody an opportunity to put together whatever evidence may be shown in aggravation from the State or mitigation from the Defense. Hopefully we'll get to that in the next couple weeks. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (14:41) Again, I'll make sure counsel knows what those dates are. That addresses the open matter then before the court. Anything from the state before we adjure? Speaker 4: (14:51) Nothing further from the State, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (14:53) From Travis McMichael? Speaker 21: (14:54) No, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (14:54) From Greg McMichael? Speaker 19: (14:56) No, Your Honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (14:57) For Mr. Bryan? Speaker 20: (14:58) No, your honor. Judge Timothy Walmsley: (14:59) All right. The defendants then are ordered to remain in the custody of the sheriff, and we are adjourned. Thank you.