GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — Update: On Thursday, a deposition was shown in court with the owner of an unfinished home at the center of the case and included a 911 call he made about a white couple entering onto the property and his concern about them potentially being there to steal something.
Original story:
Testimony in the trial of the death of Ahmaud Arbery will enter into its fifth day of testimony on Thursday, continuing the testimony into the Feb. 23, 2020 killing in southeast Georgia that helped galvanize racial justice protests last year.
On Wednesday, the court saw testimony from the first resident of Satilla Shores, the neighborhood where Arbery was shot and killed after being pursued by father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and a third man, William "Roddie" Bryan.
That neighbor, Matt Albenze, made the first police call when he saw Arbery enter an unfinished home under construction which is now at the center of the case.
Defense attorneys have focused on Arbery allegedly being seen on home surveillance videos entering onto the property a number of times in the months leading up to his death and becoming in the minds of some neighbors - including the men accused of murder in the trial - a "suspect" in break-ins and thefts around the neighborhood.
There is no evidence Arbery ever took anything or committed any damage at the home, and the owner has said he did not suspect Arbery of taking anything.
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Albenze, recounting his role in the day Arbery died, was asked if he felt guilt over things and responded, "I did."
"I thought maybe if he hadn't seen me, he wouldn't have run away," Albenze said.
He also denied signaling to the McMichaels, as defense attorneys have argued, the direction Arbery ran in out of the unfinished home or to go after him.
The day's testimony also included the lead investigator on the case for the Glynn County Police Department, who is no longer with the force and his recollections of interviewing Bryan.
A woman whose parents lived in the neighborhood also testified she believes she saw Arbery at the unfinished home weeks before the shooting as she was driving down the street and that the moment passed and "he didn't like hide or anything."
Tuesday, the trial's third day, featured a dramatic courtroom moment as Judge Timothy Walmsley admonished defense attorney Jason Sheffield for behavior he characterized as "rude."
Through the first days of the trial, testimony was largely concentrated on officers who responded to scene the day Arbery was killed or interviewed the men now charged with murder in the wake of the killing.