Imagine waking up energized and refreshed and you think it is a great day for a jog. You grab your workout gear to hit the ground running. After a quick warm-up, you pick up the pace, breathing in and out, and enjoy the peace. While running a father eyes you suspiciously, thinking you are the serial burglar terrorizing their “good community.” The father yells for his son to issue their brand of justice. Thirty-six seconds later, you lay on the ground in a pool of blood and take your last breath.

This is not just another story but the fate of a twenty-five-year-old man in Georgia. Ahmaud Arbery was a very athletic person and his morning jog through the predominately white neighborhood was a part of his daily routine. The morning of February 23rd was anything but routine for Arbery.

Well into his jog, Arbery was spotted by George McMichael who assumed that Arbery was a burglar that had hit several homes in the area. The former Georgia police officer called out to his son, Travis, and the pair jumped in his pick-up truck armed with a .357 Magnum to go do some police work. When the duo caught up to Arbery they yelled, “Stop, stop we want to talk to you.” The younger McMichael gets out of the truck to confront Arbery when a violent struggle began. Several shots and thirty=six seconds later Arbery would end up on the ground dead.

Ordinarily, the world would have been in an uproar about this case had we known about it. Sadly, the onset of the coronavirus that has the world on lockdown has delayed information and prosecution. Needless to say seventy-three days after the shooting, charges have yet to be filed. The McMichaels are claiming self-defense even though no weapons were found on Arbery. Two district attorneys have recused themselves due to a conflict of interests. The more the days pass by the more the family wonders if Arbery’s shooters will ever get convicted. The family wants justice now.

The case is now back in the spotlight after a local radio station released the video of Arbery’s killing. Georgia’s laws are now on trial in the court of public opinion. In their defense, the McMicheals are leaning on two Georgia laws. One that gives citizens the right to carry arms legally, another that gives them the right to pursue “suspects, and a third that cites a person “may arrest an offender if the offense is committed in his presence or within his immediate knowledge.” And one more that argues that allows Travis to use deadly force to protect himself according to a Georgia district attorney. Also in the McMichael’s defense folder to justify the killing are claims that Arbery had mental health issues and charges going back to high school that included shoplifting, illegal handgun carry, and probation violations.

"The reference to ... alleged conduct from high school or shoplifting is absurd and has nothing to do with his murder," S. Lee Merritt, an attorney for the Arbery family, said in a report by CNN.

The case is now in the hands of a third DA, Tom Durden. In a news release, Durden stated that he will present the case to the grand jury upon the availability of the court.

Merritt said in a statement that the two men involved in the chase "must be taken into custody pending their indictment."

The father and son are currently in custody facing charges on murder and aggravated assault.

This is an ongoing story.