MACON, Ga. — The attorneys representing one of the men charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery held their first news conference Friday morning.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones was in Macon, where the attorneys said this is not the hate crime that some think it is and that there is more than one video of the shooting that killed Arbery.
Franklyn and Laura Hogue said the public has accepted a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts when it comes to Gregory McMichael.
McMichael and his son Travis both face felony murder charges in the shooting death of Arbery back in February in Brunswick.
The McMichaels have said they thought Arbery was a burglary suspect when they followed him and he was shot to death.
Gregory McMichael’s attorneys said people have come to conclusions based on videos released, but they say they also have other videos, even of the shooting.
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“Greg McMichael did not commit murder,” Franklyn Hogue said.
“We know several other critically important facts. Those facts that point to a very different narrative,” Laura Hogue said.
The Hogues told Jones that this case is not about race.
“This case at first appears to contain some of the same elements that feed into the despicable and violent history of racism in our country, just based upon what little the public knows about this case up until now,” Franklyn Hogue said.
Jones asked the Hogues how Gregory McMichael was doing. They said it would be improper to comment on his state of mind.
His attorneys hope to get a preliminary hearing scheduled as soon as possible. They said that’s where the public will learn more about McMichael and the truth of what happened.
“The facts that matter will come out in the courtroom,” Franklyn Hogue said.
Travis McMichael’s attorneys out of Decatur are also asking the public not to rush to judgment.
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