“Your honor, for the record, I had hoped to hear something back from the court after the remarks made this morning,” Gough said. The judge later responded: “I’m confused. What are you waiting for, Mr. Gough?” With that, the attorney said he “was mistaken” and had nothing further. “We’re in recess,” Walmsley said.
When the trial resumed on Tuesday, attorneys got into the legal weeds, with prosecutor Linda Dunikoski saying she had only today received 68 police reports the defense provided to establish a “high volume of suspicious person calls in this neighborhood and a lot of extra patrolling.”
Dunikoski said the reports are irrelevant unless someone in the case knew about them at the time of the incident. She also argued that it’s improper to present that number of reports, and that if the defense intended to introduce the calls as evidence, she wanted to go through each one.
Gough was somehow able to make the dispute about him. He argued that, while he agreed with the co-defendant’s position, “We sometimes feel like the red-headed stepchild sitting over there in the corner. We tend not to get served things from co-defendants.”
It wasn’t the only complaint Gough raised on Tuesday. He yet again attempted unsuccessfully to sway the judge on banning Black pastors from attending the trial, or as Gough put it: “To prohibit any further conduct that may intimidate or influence jurors or otherwise interfere with a fair trial.” The judge responded with a 10-minute recess.
When the court resumed trial, medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue testified to Arbery’s cause of death being multiple gunshot wounds. He explained to the jury several graphic photos of the wounds Arbery sustained. The doctor described abrasions on Arbery’s face caused by an unguarded fall—a fall in which a person is unable to put their arms out to catch themselves.
One of the photos showed a gunshot wound Arbery sustained in his left shoulder. Donoghue testified that he did not believe anything could have saved Arbery’s life following that single shot.
The doctor described Arbery suffering a distinct condition known as Erb's Palsy, a paralysis of the left arm, after that shot. A still image from the video showed his shirt "ballooning out" as shotgun pellets left his body, local journalist Veronica Waters reported on Twitter of the testimony.
Another person documenting the trial live who goes by @MythSerene tweeted: "As promised in her opening, Dunikoski just showed the jury the soles of Ahmaud's running shoes, which she said were worn down from running. Again, just seeing Donoghue looking at the screen as Dunikoski says, 'State's 31, what do we have here?' & answering."
At one point, the court stopped showing the public the graphic photos of Arbery's wounds. Donoghue just described them.
The state also asked Donoghue about a difference of opinion he had from Brian Leppard, a firearms and tool mark examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), who testified on Tuesday. They differed on muzzle-to-target distance, the length between the muzzle of a firearm and the target. Once Donoghue learned of the difference, he watched video footage of the encounter and learned of a muzzle-to-target distance that was between three and 20 inches—the distance from the weapon to Arbery.
Donoghue also said the order of shots and wounds could be consistent with someone pushing or grabbing the shotgun.
When Dunikoski asked was there anything that could’ve been done on the scene to save Arbery’s life, the doctor said, “No.” The prosecutor stood with a brown evidence bag containing Arbery’s tennis shoes, which the defense objected to on grounds of relevance.
The judge excused the jury momentarily to resolve the dispute, and Dunikoski explained her intent to introduce the shoes as running shoes. She later withdrew her tender after the defense argued it was a roundabout way of arguing Arbery was jogging in the neighborhood. The defense has repeatedly tried to present an alternative reason to why Arbery was running just before he was killed, suggesting that it was because he was on probation, but the judge has not allowed it, saying Arbery is not on trial.
During cross-examination, however, Bob Rubin, Travis McMichael's attorney, focused his questions on Arbery's actions. Rubin asked if Donoghue had analyzed Arbery's tattoos and two bandanas on his neck. The attorney also asked if Donoghue had noted that Arbery's nails were long and dirty. The medical examiner said he had. Then Rubin moved his focus to Arbery's wounds, photos of which had been presented to the jury. Rubin asked if Arbery’s wounds suggested there had been a struggle for a shotgun. He asked if, even with an injured wrist, Arbery could still have swung and hit Mr. McMichael. Donoghue answered both questions: Yes, he said, it was possible, but he hadn’t counted how many times Arbery could have hit Travis McMichael.
Rubin then asked Donoghue about the “fight or flight” impulse, and whether anything prevented Arbery from fleeing in the moments leading up to his death. Donoghue said he didn't see any evidence of anything preventing Arbery from running. Rubin also asked if Arbery's building adrenaline could've come from stress. Donoghue added, “or fear.” When Rubin stated that Donoghue had no idea what Arbery could have been afraid of, the medical examiner reminded Rubin that there had been a man holding a shotgun and one following him in a pickup truck.
The court heard testimony from two GBI agents and a crime scene specialist, as well as yet another urging from Gough about his newest motion to prohibit conduct to influence jurors.
During crime scene specialist Jessica Hamilton's testimony, Dunikoski raised an important point as another of Travis McMichael's attorneys, Jason Sheffield, requested reports about neighborhood patrols he deemed relevant. Dunikoski said using the terminology of a "suspicious person" call is "disingenuous" when the calls in question refer to people like a white couple, a contractor van, and a false alarm. She said the defense simply wants to argue that the neighborhood was "under attack."
Jurors saw for themselves exactly who was under attack, with the state rolling numerous clips of video including footage Bryan shot, and silent drone footage provided by GBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Richard Dial.
RELATED: Defense attorney sees Al Sharpton in court and allows racism to slip out