EXPLAINER: What is the defense strategy in Arbery killing?

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s citizen’s arrest and self-defense laws are key to the defense strategy in the trial of the three white men charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The defense is arguing father and son Greg and Travis McMichael suspected the 25-year-old Black man in burglaries and pursued him in a truck because they wanted to detain him for police in a citizen’s arrest. The defense says Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense after Arbery turned and fought during the chase. Georgia lawmakers repealed most of the state’s citizen’s defense law in response to Arbery’s killing. Prosecutors say there’s no evidence of Arbery committing crimes in the men’s neighborhood to justify a pursuit by armed men.