What true justice for Ahmaud Arbery (and many others) would look like
This news cycle is over and Arbery will slip out of our collective consciousness — if we let him.
By Joyce Vance, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
When the jury returned guilty verdicts for the three men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery, there was a collective sense of relief; justice had been done. Our system was working. There was clear evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and the jury’s verdicts demonstrated that they had deliberated over the evidence and reached a thoughtful, well-reasoned verdict. This wasn't a knee jerk deference to the moment. The justice done was very real; but it almost didn’t happen. And in too many other cases, it never happens at all.
Each of the defendants on trial for Arbery’s murder was accused of multiple murder charges based on different sets of facts and provisions of Georgia law. Travis McMichael, the triggerman, was convicted on all of the murder charges against him, including a count of intentional malice murder. His father, who was with him but did not pull the trigger, was acquitted on the intentional murder charge, but convicted on multiple counts of felony murder, including one for aggravated assault with the firearm he knew his son had with him the day Arbery was killed (he had yelled at Travis to grab it as they raced to their truck.) And Roddie Bryant, who joined the chase, was acquitted on the felony murder count involving McMichael’s gun, but convicted on ones involving the use of the vehicles to assault and false imprisonment of Arbery.
Justice was possible here because there was videotape of the crime in progress. But, casting a wider lens, it’s impossible to escape the conclusion that our system doesn’t always achieve justice. We cannot rest on the verdicts in Arbery’s murder as a sign that justice has come to Georgia, or to the deep south, or to our country. Because it hasn’t. There is still so much work to be done.
A year and a half out from George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, Congress still hasn’t passed the criminal justice reform bill named for him that would provide greater accountability for police misconduct, limit qualified immunity, prohibit dangerous police practices like chokeholds and increase transparency. And those reforms are essential if we are going to advance our criminal justice system.
READ MORE: What true justice for Ahmaud Arbery (and many others) would look like
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/what-true-ju...
Posted By: Dea. Ron Gray Sr.
Saturday, December 4th 2021 at 10:09AM
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