Georgia repeals citizen’s arrest law ahead of a federal hearing in the death of Ahmaud Arbery

On the eve of a hearing for three men accused in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, his family witnessed the repeal of a Civil War-era law permitting citizen’s arrests in Georgia.

Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. will appear before a judge Tuesday afternoon on federal hate crime and kidnapping charges.

The McMichaels claimed to be conducting a citizen’s arrest and that they acted in self-defense when the three men chased down and fatally shot Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, who was out for a jog near Brunswick, Georgia, last year.

Bryan Jr., who recorded video of the death, allegedly hit Arbery with his truck after he joined the McMichaels in the chase.

“Ahmaud was the victim of a vigilante-style violence that has no place in our country or in our state,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday while signing H.B. 479 into law.

The legislation, he said, is “a complete overhaul of Georgia’s outdated citizen’s arrest statute.”

“Today we are replacing a Civil War-era law, ripe for abuse, with language that balances the sacred right to self-defense of a person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward,” Kemp said.

Present at the signing were Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones and his sister, Jasmine Arbery.

Cooper-Jones said she was thankful for the passage of the bill. “Unfortunately, I had to lose my son to get significant change, but again I’m still thankful,” she said.

Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Arbery family, said the “family is still focusing on criminal accountability and seeing this case to a prosecution of appropriate sentencing.”

Arbery killed on a jog

Federal prosecutors said the three men “used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.”

While Arbery was jogging, prosecutors said the McMichaels “armed themselves with firearms, got into a truck, and chased Arbery through the public streets of the neighborhood while yelling at him, using their truck to cut off his route, and threatening him with firearms.”

Bryan also joined the chase and cut off Arbery’s route with his truck, prosecutors said.

“All three defendants attempted to unlawfully seize and confine Arbery by chasing after him in their trucks in an attempt to restrain him, restrict his free movement, corral and detain him against his will, and prevent his escape,” the Justice Department said in a press release.

Video footage of the fatal shooting, recorded by Bryan, shows Arbery and Travis McMichael tussling before three gunshots are heard. Blood appears on Arbery’s T-shirt below his left ribcage. He stumbles and falls in the middle of the two-lane road.

Charges they face

The three men were federally charged last month with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping, according to the Justice Department.

Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, were charged with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing (in Travis’s case discharging) a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

Cooper-Jones told CNN at the time that the hate crime charges on a federal level were “huge.”

Arbery family attorney Ben Crump said the indictments were “yet another step in the right direction.”

“This is an important milestone in America’s uphill march toward racial justice, and we applaud the Justice Department for treating this heinous act for what it is — a purely evil, racially motivated hate crime,” Crump’s statement read.

Jason Sheffield and Robert Rubin, attorneys for Travis McMichael, said in a statement they were “deeply disappointed that the Justice Department bought the false narrative that the media and state prosecutors have promulgated.”

Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, also expressed disappointment.

“Roddie Bryan has committed no crime. We look forward to a fair and speedy trial, and to the day when Mr. Bryan is released and reunited with his family,” Gough said in a statement.

CNN has reached out to the legal counsel for Gregory McMichael.

In a state trial scheduled to begin with jury selection on October 18, Gregory and Travis McMichael have pleaded not guilty to malice and felony murder charges, and counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Bryan pleaded not guilty to charges of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment and felony murder.