In Georgia, when raised at trial the defendant need only show evidence of justification in an alleged self defense situation then the burden of proof switches to the state to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that it wasn’t justified.
So, necessarily the actions of the victim and his character, at least to some extent will come into play. Most states allow a defendant in a self defense case to offer evidence of pertinent character traits of the victim. So, if there is anything there, you will hear about it. I’ll bet that the defense already knows about or is very interested in the “mental issues” alluded to by the second DA in his letter to the third.
I still think that it is going to come down to what happened in the front of that truck that no one can see. McMillan has right to be armed to be in a public space. And Arbery had a right to be where he was. So, it’s going to come down to those few seconds.
You can argue that the McMillans created the whole situation and were the aggressors. That isn’t completely unreasonable. On the other hand, from what we think we know about the case, they had done pretty much the same thing and tried to get him to stop and talk at least once, maybe twice, a few minutes/seconds before and he had kept running. What was different this time?
It’s going to come down to what the difference was in those split seconds the last time they tried to stop him. The McMillans are behind the eight ball with all the publicity. On the other hand, they appear to be the only witnesses as to what happened in those split seconds.
Last edited by JoeBob; 05/13/20.
