Attorneys for the family of Ahmaud Arbery say they are looking into an unsigned note left at a memorial near where he was shot, while lawyers for the two men charged in the case have issued their first public statements.
According to TMZ, the note read, in part, “Ahmaud, I am so sorry. I should have stopped them. I am so sorry.” Family attorney Lee Merritt told TMZ that his team received an anonymous tip about the note from someone in Brunswick, Georgia, and that they believe the author may be connected to Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael or William Bryan. Merritt did not publicly release evidence supporting that belief.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation addressed the note on Thursday. “The GBI has identified the individual that wrote this note. The individual is not connected to the Ahmaud Arbery murder investigation in any way. The person was expressing their condolences for Arbery’s death,” the bureau said in a statement, adding that the investigation remains active and ongoing. Even with that explanation, Arbery’s legal team said it still wanted to pursue the tip.
Meanwhile, the attorneys for Travis McMichael, Bob Rubin and Jason Sheffield, spoke publicly for the first time outside their Atlanta office. “Right now, we are starting at the end. We know the ending. What we don’t know is the beginning. We implore all of you to not rush to judgment,” they said. They declined to say who is paying for the defense.
Laura and Franklin Hogue, who represent Gregory McMichael, released a similar statement. “So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgment, which has happened in this case,” Laura Hogue said Thursday.
The attorneys for Arbery’s parents answered with their own statement. “We agree with the attorneys for Travis McMichael that the justice system affords all citizens the presumption of innocence and that there shouldn’t be a rush to judgment or stereotyping,” they said. “We only wish that their client, Travis McMichael, had provided that same presumption of innocence to Ahmaud Arbery before chasing and killing him.”
The McMichaels are charged in the case, and the charges are allegations that have not been decided in court.
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