On Thursday, a defense attorney representing one of the defendants in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial demanded that Rev. Al Sharpton be removed from the courtroom, saying, “We don’t want any more Black pastors in here” because it would be “intimidating” for the jury.
The trial at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, is open t the public, but attorney Kevin Gough tried to argue that the presence of black pastors in the courtroom presence was intimidating the jury, which is made up of 11 white people and one Black person.
“My concern is that it’s one thing for the family to be present. It’s another thing to ask for the lawyers to be present. But if we’re going to … bring high-profile members of the African American community into the courtroom to sit with the family during the trial in the presence of the jury, I believe that’s intimidating,” Gough said. “And it’s an attempt to pressure ― could be consciously or unconsciously ― an attempt to pressure or influence the jury.”
Sharpton said he came to Brunswick on Wednesday to provide support for the Arbery family during the trial. But the attorney argued that people should not have multiple pastors, requesting that the court no longer allow Black pastors to watch the trial.
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“To my knowledge, Rev. Al Sharpton has no church in Glynn County, never has. … So we have all kinds of people. We have school board members, we have county commissioners, we have all kinds of pastors in this town, over 100,” Gough said in the video below.
He added: “There’s only so many pastors they can have, and if their pastor’s Al Sharpton right now, that’s fine, but then that’s it. We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here or other ― Jesse Jackson, whoever was in here earlier this week, sitting with the victim’s family trying to influence the jury in this case.”
As noted by TMZ, Jesse Jackson has not been in the courtroom.
Watch the video below:
Clip of this exchange is quite a thing, and includes the suggestion people should…only have one pastor? I think?
Judge later cut off the lawyer when he equated presence of Black pastors w/a scenario where "people dressed like Colonel Sanders w/white masks" sat in the courtroom. https://t.co/U9v3Ok4ywE pic.twitter.com/BPkTBef0Pa
— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) November 11, 2021
