Judge seats nearly all-white jury to hear Ahmaud Arbery case

The jury that will consider the fates of three white men accused of killing a Black jogger consists of 11 white people and a single Black member. 

Prosecutors in the Ahmaud Arbery case, which drew national attention last year, blame defense attorneys for rejecting Black jurors, according to The New York Times.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery’s family, said on Twitter that the defense team had 24 strikes and 11 of the strikes were directed at Black people who might otherwise have been placed on the jury.

Defense team had 24 strikes, 1/3 of the potential jurors were African American, 11 of the strikes were directed at African Americans, only a single black male made it to the actual jury.

— Lee Merritt (@MerrittForTexas) November 3, 2021

The judge presiding over the case said the jury would be seated nonetheles.

“This court has found that there appears to be intentional discrimination,” Judge Timothy Walmsley said of the defense’s jury selection on Wednesday, per CNN.

But he said he would still allow the jury to be seated, saying the discrimination “doesn’t mean the court has the authority to reseat simply because we have this prima facie case.”

After two hours of the defense justifying their decisions, Walmsley ruled that they had valid reasons, apart from race, to dismiss the jurors, CNN reported.

“One of the challenges that I think counsel recognized in this case is the racial overtones in the case,” Walmsley added, per CNN. “This is sort of the continuation of a conversation that I think will continue for a long time, with respect to this case.”