Prosecutors in the trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers explain why they h…

Nine White women, two White men and one Black man served on the jury, according to a CNN examination of juror data. Historically, all-White juries in situations where White people are involved in the deaths of Black men consequence in acquittals, according to scholars and law experts who spoke to CNN about the trial of Arbery’s murderers.

The racial makeup of the jurors was reminiscent of the Jim Crow era and quickly drew comparisons with the aftermath of Emmett Till’s death, when an all-White jury in 1955 acquitted the two men arrested for Emmet’s slaying, experts said.

“Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made does not mirror the reality of what brought Ahmaud Arbery to Satilla Shores in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails,” Hogue told jurors.

Larissa Ollivierre, Cobb County assistant district attorney, told CNN Wednesday she felt bad for Arbery’s parents after Hogue’s statements.

“I think the comments were unnecessary and they were low, and I just feel bad that Ahmaud’s mom and dad had to sit there and listen to all of those things,” Ollivierre said.

“We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here … sitting with the victim’s family trying to influence a jury in this case,” he said.

Dunikoski said Gough’s comments about Black pastors — though made without the jury present — were strategic.

“Mr. Gough is a very, very good attorney, and he deliberately and deliberately and strategically, I believe, did what he did in an effort to attempt to insert potentially some error into the case in case he lost the case and it went up on popularity,” she said.

already though race played a huge role in and outside of the courtroom, Dunikoski said she hoped what people took away from this trial was that parents in a similar situation would trust the time of action and advocate for their child.

“Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery (Arbery’s mother and father) were advocates for Ahmaud, and they really pushed this one when it first happened,” she said. “And I think the message is that you have to let the criminal justice system work and, in this case, yes, it did work, and to trust, which they did, they trusted us, and they trusted this team to bring justice for them and their family, but to trust the system of the constitution and due course of action just to let it work.”