One of the two white men accused in the Georgia shooting death of an unarmed black man, a case that has attracted international attention, is being represented by noted Macon defense attorneys.
Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, have been charged with murder and aggravated assault in Ahmaud Arbery’s killing.
Gregory McMichael has retained lawyers Laura D. Hogue and her husband, Franklin J. Hogue.
Laura Hogue, in a statement to the Macon Telegraph, said, “So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgment, which has happened in this case.”
Franklin Hogue added in the statement that “while the death of Ahmaud Arbery is a tragedy, causing deep grief to his family — a tragedy that at first appears to many to fit into a terrible pattern in American life — this case does not fit that pattern. The full story, to be revealed in time, will tell the truth about this case.”
The Arbery slaying, which was captured on video that showed Arbery, who is African American, jogging down a Glynn County road before apparently being confronted by two men identified as the McMicahels, has prompted controversy and outcry in the weeks since it happened.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Twitter that Arbery was “killed in cold blood” and called for a swift investigation into the killing.
More than two months passed before the father and son were arrested when the GBI was called in to investigate.
The shooting happened Feb. 23. The McMichaels were jailed May 7.
Gregory McMichael’s lawyers are among Georgia’s most prominent criminal-defense attorneys.
Franklin Hogue in the past decade has represented Stephen McDaniel, the convicted dismemberment killer serving life in the murder of Mercer University law school graduate Lauren Giddings. McDaniel had initially faced the death penalty.
The Hogues said in their statement late Wednesday that Gregory McMichael’s defense team “will soon schedule a preliminary hearing” for him, “at which hearing more of the truth will come out, and they will petition the court to set bail.”
*story by Miami Herald