Sunday Reads – Oct. 24, 2021
News cycles may seem slow, but several stories with potential for long-lasting impact continue to move along. While bursts of waves always draw our attention, the longer term currents can affect us the most over time. This week was a good measure of that as we watched the jury selection process for the Glynn County trial in the killing of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, a new map is proffered to redraw Georgia’s voting districts, and the intersection of current needs vs. long-term environmental effects.
Arbery case: The long process of jury selection
Jury selection plods along in Brunswick as prosecution and defense teams interview 20 people at a time in their search to find impartial jurors to hear the case of three white men accused of killing Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery. Nearly 1,000 Glynn County residents were called up for jury duty and 600 had to check in last week. So far more than 200 have been interviewed and 23 have been qualified for the final pool. (See the basic juror questionnaire here.) They’ll need 64 for the final selection to cover 12 jurors, 4 alternates and the strikes available to the sides.
While Judge Timothy Walmsley has appeared irritated at the slow speed of the undertaking, he’s clearly been working to keep the process moving as well as he can through the Covid distancing protocols. It’s been easier to watch the process via courtroom feed, but be warned: It goes for hours without sound so the jurors can’t be identified by voice. The media throng is represented in the courtroom and jury selection by rotating reporters who share notes with other media workers. The crucial note here is this: Without the courtroom video feed and observing journalists, the process would only be open to the few family members who are able to be in the room. For a crime steeped in a culture of distrust — already evident in the juror interviews — the transparency helps us all understand the judicial process. You can view the daily live courtroom proceedings, The Current‘s stories, and reporting from a variety of media outlets about the case on a special web page at thecurrentga.org. Bookmark the page linked here to check each day’s updates. Also, while you are there, check out the detailed timeline of events in Glynn County after the Feb. 23, 2020, shooting of Arbery. The timeline gives insight into some of the long-term distrust resulting from upheaval and dysfunction in the Glynn police and district attorney’s office.
Another party, another map
A few weeks ago, the Republican-led redistricting panel from the Georgia legislature released its draft map of the redrawn districts based on the 2020 Census numbers. It predictably showed a map similar to the one currently in use, emphasizing more conservative and reliably GOP-voting rural areas and diluting larger, more diverse and dense urban areas to help GOP lawmakers keep their jobs. This week, the Democrats offered a map with less fracturing of urban areas that tend to vote for them. And that’s where the conversation picks up as the special legislative session opens Nov. 3 to consider new boundaries.
Digging for titanium and why
Minerals are a much-sought commodity as technological advances find new uses for them and global powers work to secure them in faraway places. Closer home, titanium, a not-so-rare mineral used in products in every household (toothpaste, paint and candies, for instance), is on the list of reasons Twin Pines Mining wants to dig near the Okefenokee Swamp. Critics say the mine could disrupt water flows for the protected area. The Current’s Mary Landers has a breakdown of what titanium is used for and why the spot lures mining interests.
For your second cup
As the trial unfolds in Brunswick, it’s anticipated that defense arguments will center on the defendants’ claims that they were making a citizen’s arrest when chasing down Ahmaud Arbery. A legal scholar and former law enforcement officer details citizen’s arrest laws from the 1200s and applies it to Georgia’s history. The Georgia legislature ended the older definitions of the law last year, but many states still have some version on the books. This research underscores the racist intents of the law in various parts of the country and shows why many believe every part of American jurisprudence should be examined for fairness.
Enjoy.
Jury selection goes slowly in Arbery case
The jury selection process is expected to take two to three more weeks, as finding the people who have no ties to the defendants and who have not established hard opinions about the case is difficult, given the small size of the county and the outrage that Arbery’s death sparked.
FOLLOW THE AHMAUD ARBERY MURDER CASE
Timeline, with a daily compilation of news around the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery and the trial of three men charged in his killing.
Democrats release their own Congressional map ahead of special session
Democrats said their map provides a fair opportunity for voters of color in Georgia to elect representatives of their choice, as minorities make up a majority of the residents in six of the 14 districts.
Okefenokee mine project: What is titanium used for?
Alabama-based Twin Pines Minerals wants to mine heavy mineral sands from 8,000 acres near the Okefenokee for titanium, a metal that’s both common and extraordinary.
Trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s accused killers will scrutinize the use – and abuse – of ‘outdated’ citizen’s arrest laws
In the mid-1600s, the slave codes of the colonial American South declared that controlling the enslaved population was a matter of public responsibility – the “public” here being exclusively white men.
Arbery case: Daily reporting from across the country
Curated media coverage of the trial for 3 men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery
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