Ahmaud Arbery’s mental health records can’t be used as trial evidence by the white men who chased and killed the 25-year-old Black man as he was running in their neighborhood, a Georgia judge ruled Friday.
FILE - This combination of booking photos provided by the Glynn County, Ga., Detention Center, shows, from left, Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and William"Roddie" Bryan Jr. On Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, a Georgia judge has ruled that Ahmaud Arbery's mental health records can't be used as trial evidence by the men who chased and killed him.
The judge ruled that Arbery's medical privacy, even in death, trumped the rights of the men standing trial to a robust defense. And he concluded that a registered nurse's"highly questionable diagnosis” that Arbery suffered from mental illness during his first and only visit to a mental health services provider in 2018 could unfairly prejudice a trial jury.
A neighbor who joined the chase, William “Roddie” Bryan, took cellphone video that showed Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery as he threw punches and grabbed for McMichael's shotgun. Arbery was unarmed when he was killed by three shotgun blasts at close range. Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, said by email that despite the judge's ruling Friday, he's confident “that the full truth will come out over the course of trial and that the jury will see this case is simply about protecting one’s neighbors and oneself.”
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