In February of 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot in Glynn County, Georgia. Now, almost two years later, the case is sparking a discussion of a law change.
The defendants in the case claim they were making a citizen’s arrest before shooting Arbery, citing Georgia’s law stating that a citizen’s arrest is perfectly legal. Over the summer, Georgia repealed its citizen’s arrest laws but left in place statutes that allow citizens to defend themselves in the event that they need to.
“Under those laws, you still have a right to detain people,” says Amy Swearer, a legal fellow in the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.
Even though Georgia has taken the steps to modernize its citizen’s arrest law, the call for change doesn’t stop there. There’s a nationwide discussion about the law, and unfortunately, the discussion has been quieted due to the notoriety of the Kyle Rittenhouse case.
“Most of the nation got caught up in what was going on in Kenosha,” Swearer says. “This case has been overlooked.”
Amy Swearer joins Marc Cox this morning to talk about the Arbery case, citizen’s arrest laws, and the contrasts between this fatal shooting case, and the Rittenhouse case.
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