Rich McKay, Jonathan Allen

(Reuters] – The victim’s stepfather enjoyed a Southern-style oyster roast with one potential juror. One woman claimed that her stepfather went fly fishing with the two defendants. Some others claimed they witnessed the victim running in and lifting weights at a neighbor’s house.

Jury selection is in its second week for Ahmaud Abery’s murder trial. The three men are all white and went on a run in mostly white neighborhoods. However, there is one problem with prosecuting such a large case in a small community: everybody seems to know everyone in Georgia’s Glynn County.

The defense attorneys, Judge Timothy Walmsley and prosecutors are trying to place 12 jurors as well as four alternates to weigh the evidence in the Glynn County Superior Court trial in Brunswick (NYSE) – a city on the coast that is home to only 16,000 residents.

1000 people were sent summonses to serve as jurors in Glynn County. This county has a population of 85,000 and is almost two-thirds White. Since the Oct. 18 trial started, dozens of possible jurors were questioned. The judge gave anonymity and only numbers.

Although none of the potential jurors who were questioned at court the first day seemed to have any prior knowledge of either party, the matter quickly became clear.

One of three charges against Bryan is murderer, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment.

Bryan led Arbery’s chase down Satilla Shores Road in February 2020. Bryan also used his cell phone to capture the moment in which Arbery was captured and later shot to death.

One potential juror claimed he was Bryan’s neighbor Gregory McMichael. He led the chase with Travis McMichael in a pickup truck in an effort to arrest a citizen.

According to Reuters, the man stated that he knew Arbery and the defendants.

Potential jurors who had a special connection to one party were dismissed. One woman claimed to be third cousins with Arbery, and that she grew-up in the same home as Marcus Arbery.

A young man, who just recently moved to Brunswick, became friends with Arbery through a bar they shared on one the island-lined beaches nearby.

The court is still trying to make sure that the 64 persons it has prescreened are not dismissed.

“Everyone knows everyone”

An old mechanic claimed that he knew Travis McMichael and they had been in the same hunting group. Bryan was also a mechanic who he knew for around 20 years.

He stated that he did not know either one of them, but begged for an excuse.

Annie C. Deets from Emory University, Atlanta said that the web of connections has shown how difficult jury selection can be for small communities. She is also a professor of law at Emory University, Atlanta. Annie C. Deets has been involved with picking jurors in smaller cities in Georgia as both a defense and prosecutor.

She said, “Everyone knows everybody,” in an interview.

She said that knowing someone doesn’t necessarily make them ineligible for a jury. However, it could be a major strike against them.

A middle-aged man claimed he had been friendly with Arbery’s mother, and Arbery’s father (who owns a landscaping company) had mow his lawn six months back. Each parent has been at jury selection many times, with the mother often in tears.

A woman told court that her husband was a local 911 operator’s equipment servicer, although she did not say she knew the other parties. The prosecutor demanded: Was he ever able to share any conversations with 911 operators?

She replied “Don’t get this wrong”