At this moment, Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr — the men involved in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man gunned down during a morning jog — are appearing before Judge Wallace E. Harrell. TMZ reports that the hearing is meant to establish whether there remains enough evidence to move forward with the murder case. While the alleged murderer and his associates will not be physically present, their lawyers will be representing them in Glynn County Magistrate Court in Georgia.

Sean Rayford/Getty Images

The hearing is being live-streamed, and at the moment of his writing, the court has recently begun to resume following a brief recess. Both McMichaels have already appeared on camera, while Bryan JR. did not; it should be noted that all three parties are currently being held in jail without any bond.

As of now, TMZ confirms that a detective took the stand in opposition to Gregory McMichael’s position that Arbery matched the description of a burglary suspect. The detective maintains that there is no evidence suggesting that Arbery was complicit in burglary of any sort, going so far as to provide details of the McMichaels pursuing Arbery in an elaborate chase. 

With a verdict yet to be reached, those curious about the case can tune into the live stream courtesy of TMZ. For those interested in catching up on what has already transpired, PBS has uploaded the hearing onto YouTube — also embedded below.

The death of Ahmaud Arbery has sparked outrage across the country in the past few days, prompting the arrests of Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael. For over two months, the suspects have been roaming the streets freely with no arrests actually being made on the case until recently.

Glynn County Sheriff’s Office Getty Images

According to AJC, Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill wrote a letter of recusal that revealed his son, a former prosecutor at the Brunswick DA’s office, and Gregory McMichaels, who served as an investigator at the same office, revealing that “both helped with the previous prosecution of (Ahmaud) Arbery.” Adding he learned about McMichael’s history with Arbery “three or four weeks ago.”

McMichael was noted to be a former Glynn County cop once news of Arbery’s murder began to gain traction. He claimed that he was making a citizen’s arrest after a string of robberies in the neighborhood, though no evidence suggested Arbery was responsible for this. Barnhill did not specify the exact prosecution. Arbery was sentenced to five years probation in high school for charges of carrying a weapon on school grounds and obstructing a law enforcement officer. He was later convicted of a probation violation in 2018 after he was charged for shoplifting.

Family attorney Lee Merritt did acknowledge the charges but said that references to “alleged conduct from high school or shoplifting is absurd and has nothing to do with his murder.”

“We’ve been here before whether it’s Tamir Rice or Trayvon Martin,” said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s father. “When they kill our children, they then try to assassinate their character and I know they’re going to do that with Ahmaud Arbery.”