Prosecution Rests Its Case in Ahmaud Arbery Murder Trial

The prosecution rested its case Tuesday in the murder trial of three white men in Georgia who are accused of killing 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020 while he was jogging — a killing they say was in self-defense, during a scuffle.

The trial is taking place as the nation is also watching the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Wisconsin, where the jury began its deliberations on Tuesday morning. The cases are being compared by some left-wing observers, who note that the Arbery defendants are claiming that they were attempting a legal citizens’ arrest after they suspected Arbery of trespassing on a neighbor’s property.

But while Rittenhouse was attempting to protect property during a riot, the similarities end there.

Rittenhouse’s lawyers pointed to ample video and forensic evidence he was attacked by his alleged “victims” — one of whom had a gun. The defense attorneys in the Arbery case have a tougher case to make that their clients’ fears were reasonable.

Arbery’s death was also less politicized at the time — although that has changed, with accusations of a bias in jury selection, as only one black juror is represented on the panel.

Arbery’s death was widely condemned in 2020, and his family’s attorneys also worked with the Trump White House, which they said had been “very responsive” in launching a federal investigation. The attorneys also spoke with conservative media, like Breitbart News, advocating for their client rather than a political side.

One of the defense attorneys asked the judge last week to limit attendance in the gallery, saying he didn’t want “any more black pastors” who might influence the jury, after Al Sharpton attended. He later apologized to the court for the remark.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.