Students and two teachers who were killed less than 48 hours ago, they were sitting in the Front Row of that courtroom lets get right to cnns Rafael Romo outside the court were kind of inbetween moments right now rafael in court yeah. Thats right. Waiting for the parent who is going to show up here at the courthouse. Any moment now about probably in about 30 minutes, it was heartbreaking. John and let me tell you to see those families sitting quietly, respectfully in the Front Row in the proceeding started at exactly a 30, 3 00 a. M. In front of Judge Curry mingle dorf here at the Barrow County courthouse. Defendant was brought in two minutes later. His arms were shackled and he was wearing a green Top And Tan pants. He replied to questions by the judge, by seeing a yes, sir. In a respectful manner as he was informed of his rights under the law and the charges, and that he faces. Lets remember that he has been charged, says adult with four counts of Felony Murder Scene with the victims
Backtoback hearings in the georgia School Shooting. A major topic in a matter of moments. The teenage Suspect Age 14 made his first Court Appearance 30 minutes ago. His father, which is was announced late Last Night also faces charges. He will appear in court in a matter of minutes. Good morning On A Friday morning. We begin with this now and im Bill Hemmer and dana good morning. Dana im Dana Perino and this is americas newsroom. Groundbreaking in georgia and take you through it. Prosecutors say the Teen Suspect is responsible for killing two teachers and two classmates facing four counts of Felony Murder and he will be tried as an adult. Bill authorities the Suspects Father of enabling his son facing charges of involuntary manslaughter and second Degree Murder now. Dana last year a tip about the suspect making threats online prompted sheriffs officers to visit the family home. They asked the father about his firearms. Here is newly released audio of that conversation. Do you have weap
she said my recommendation to you is to work from the bottom of the indictment. to work from the lowest charges up to the top, which is not always the way we think of how injuries work through cases. by designing her argument that way and designing the indictment that way, what ended up happening are the felonies that were the predicate for the full any murder counts are the first thing that they turned to. so if they were able to convict on those easier counts, a momentum kind of builds towards the end. so by the time they get to the last count, everybody has already been convicted of at least two felony murder counts. so i just thought it was a smart way to go about it with this particular case and the way the verdict came out, it shows the jury made a discriminating appraisal between the three different defendants. gillian: really a series of escalating, interlocking charges
substantial and necessary cause plaintiff arbery s death. whether that is the fault, for lack of a better phrase, of mr. mcmichael, the fault of mr. arbery or the fault of both or simply without any fault on either part and an unavoidable tragedy. why should roddie bryan be held responsible for that? i would submit to you under the law that mr. bryan cannot be guilty of any of the felony murder counts for that reason alone. all right. count six. count six alleges aggravated assault by shooting. now we know that roddie bryan did not shoot mr. arbery. the theory here is parties to a crime and how can mr. bryan intentionally help commit a
nine and i ll address each of the underlying or predicate felonies in a moment. but right now i want to talk about something called proximate cause. because to support any of the felony murder counts, there has to be a causal relationship to the death of ahmaud arbery. and there is no such relationship in this case. without trying to put words in the court s mouth, i think the court is going to charge you i m not there yet. you may find the defendant guilty of felony murder if you believe that mr. bryan caused the death of mr. arbery, regardless of whether mr. bryan intended the death to occur. that s felony murder. there must be some causal connection between the felony and the death. the court, i believe, will instrict you that felony murder is not established simply because the death occurred at the same time or shortly after the felony was attempted or committed. the burden on the state such