'It's possible everywhere': Prosecution team talks getting justice for Ahmaud Arbery
Prosecution team talks about Ahmaud Arbery trial
Senior Assistant District Attorney Linda Dunikoski, Assistant District Attorney Larissa Ollivierre, and Senior Assistant District Attorney Paul Camarillo sit down with FOX 5 to discuss the prosecution of Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Roddie Bryan in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
ATLANTA - For the first time, FOX 5 sat down with the prosecution team in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial. Their work on the case resulted in guilty verdicts against the three Glynn County men.
After the verdict was read, lead prosecutor Linda Dunokoski, who is the Cobb County Senior Assistant Cobb County District Attorney, said she had a long embrace with Arbery’s mother who told them she finally got a chance to get closure.
AHMAUD ARBERY’S MOM 'THANKFUL' FOR JUSTICE AND SON’S LEGACY
Ahmaud Arbery's mother, father react to guilty verdicts in son's murder trial
Wanda Cooper-Jones spoke to a crowd on the courthouse steps minutes after hearing three men accused of killing her son, Ahmaud Arbery, were found guilty of murder. Arbery's father, Marcus Arbery, was in the courtroom when he heard Travis McMichael's guilty verdict and exclaimed, causing Judge Timothy Walmsley to pause, according to his attorney.
"If it's possible in south Georgia, in Brunswick, Georgia, it's possible everywhere," said Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady, Jr.
The prosecution team in the murder trial of Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Roddie Bryan said was no small task getting to the guilty verdict for the three men responsible for Ahmaud Arbery's death.
"We each brought something to the table that would help is all the different parts. That started with the jury selection, moved through what we should do with the opening, how do we approach this? All the way through the case until closing arguments," Dunokoski said.
Ahmaud Arbery's family, Rev. Al Sharpton emerge from courthouse following guilty verdicts
Wanda Cooper-Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, left the Glynn County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon hand-in-hand with her attorneys and the Rev. Al Sharpton, whose presence along with other Black pastors sparked controversy inside and outside the courthouse. Sharpton led the family, lawyers and people gathered outside of the Glynn County Courthouse in a prayer.
AHMAUD ARBERY'S FAMILY REACTS TO GUILTY VERDICTS: 'I NEVER THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD COME'
With more than 50 years of experience and more than a hundred felony cases between them, the team was well versed in what the trial meant.
"A 25-year-old young man who had his entire life ahead of him. Someone who was loved by his siblings, by his parents, someone whose life had been cut short. And when you’re looking at those photos you're thinking to yourself this is what these men did to this young man for absolutely no reason," Dunokoski explained.
Death of Ahmaud Arbery (FOX 5 Atlanta)
Every move during the trial was calculated well in advance, but what they didn’t expect was how quickly a verdict was reached.
"We thought with three defendants, and all those charges, that it was going to be a while for the jury to sort through all of that evidence," said Senior Assistant District Attorney Paul Camarillo.
And what about the "Black pastors" comments made by William Bryan's attorney Kevin Gough?
"It was all done strategically and it was self-created. He created this sort of controversy himself. He did it strategically so he could complain about it," said Dunokoski.
BLACK PASTORS RALLY OUTSIDE TRIAL OVER ARBERY’S KILLING
"I actually believe the entire defense case was done in a strategic manner in order to make a ‘Black versus White’ thing versus a ‘right versus wrong’ thing," said Broady.
Or the dirty toenails comment made about Arbery by Greg McMichaels’ attorney Laura Hogue?
"I can tell you I was very taken aback. I really could not believe she just said it. And I think it was unnecessary. I think it was pretty low for her to say that," said Assistant District Attorney Larissa Ollivierre.
The next thing will be sentencing. The judge is trying to coordinate a date that's appropriate for the sentencing hearing. Once the defendants were sentenced they have 30 days to file a motion for a new trial.