Ahmaud Arbery: Jury to decide fate of men accused in his murder

After a 13-day trial, a Georgia jury has begun deliberating in the case of three men accused of killing a black jogger last year.

Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was killed in a confrontation with Travis and Gregory McMichael and their neighbour, William Bryan.

If convicted, the men face the possibility of life imprisonment. They deny all charges.

The racially charged case has garnered nationwide interest in the US.

Mr Arbery was fatally shot after being confronted while jogging on the afternoon of 23 February 2020. The case gained widespread attention after footage of Mr Arbery's final moments went viral months later.

The defendants each face nine criminal charges, including malice and felony murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

The 12-member jury heard from more than two dozen witnesses over the course of the trial, including Travis McMichael, who was the only defendant to take the witness stand.

Lawyers for the men argued in court that the defendants acted in self-defence while making a citizen's arrest, which was legal in the state of Georgia at the time. It has since been repealed.

The trio say that they suspected Mr Arbery of theft from a nearby construction site.

Closing arguments in the case wrapped up on Tuesday morning.

In a rebuttal to the defence's argument on Tuesday, lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski said that the men had no legal authority to confront Mr Arbery.

"They don't have any authority to use verbal commands," Ms Dunikoski said. "This is a fellow citizen. This is another human being."

While Travis McMichael, 35, fired the shots that killed Mr Arbery, Ms Dunikoski said that his father Gregory, 65, and Mr Bryan, 52, are equally responsible for the killing.

"When three people chase an unarmed man in pick-up trucks with guns in order to violate his personal liberty, who gets to claim I am not responsible for that?" she said. "Under the law in Georgia, no one gets to say that. Everybody is responsible."

In their closing arguments on Monday, the defence team continued to lean on a two-party strategy that focused on the defendant's assertions that they were conducting a citizen's arrest and shot in self-defence.

"You do have the right to stop a person and hold them and detain them for police," Travis McMichael's attorney said on Monday. "There's a risk with that."

An attorney for Gregory McMichael, Laura Hogue, said that a "good neighbourhood is always policing itself" and argued that some of Mr Arbery's actions that day were partly to blame for his death.

The composition of the jury - with 11 white and one black member - has been criticised by some observers who believe it doesn't reflect the local community, which is 55% Black.