Thread by @AmySwearer

As expected:

- Travis McMichael guilty of malice murder [top charge] and four counts of felony murder, along with several other felonies.

- Greg McMichael guilty of four counts of felony murder, and several other felonies

- Roddie Bryan guilty of three counts of felony murder

I thought Bryan had a reasonable shot with the claim that he didn't know the McMichaels were armed or would shoot anyone. But this general outcome was expected by anyone who actually watched the trial.

Let's break this down a bit: THREAD

This was actual vigilantism. Georgia's [then-existing] citizen's arrest law was horribly written, but obviously did not authorize the armed pursuit of [at worst] a misdemeanor suspect no one actually saw commit said misdemeanor, for the purpose of "questioning" him.

Because there was no lawful authority for such a pursuit and attempted detention, they were committing several serious felonies against him, whilst openly carrying guns in a way that, under the circumstances, arguably constituted unlawful threats or brandishing.

You don't get to commit felonies against someone in a way that reasonably causes the person to feel threatened, and then claim self-defense when you shoot him for defending himself against your unlawful actions.

So how is this different from Rittenhouse? Rittenhouse committed zero felonies against Rosenbaum. Even if he HAD done so, he regained his right to claim self-defense by fleeing 40+ yards to remove himself from any world in which Rosenbaum was plausibly defending himself.

Rosenbaum, instead, unlawfully pursued and threatened Rittenhouse. Moreover, both in theory and under state law, Rittenhouse's open carry of a firearm cannot constitute the act of brandishing or be considered some specific unlawful threat of violence.

For comparison with the Arbery case, let's assume for argument that Rittenhouse was even the initial unlawful aggressor, the same as the McMichaels. The similar scenario would be if they got back in their trucks and drove off and Arbery pursued them while yelling threats.

And then the McMichaels come to a stop sign and Arbery reaches for Travis' gun while saying he's gonna kill him. This now becomes an entirely different legal analysis where the McMichaels reasonably withdrew and Arbery is now the unlawful aggressor.

But again, I think it's clear that Rosenbaum pursued Rittenhouse on his own, without any actual [in a legal sense] provocation from Rittenhouse. It was always a pure self-defense case, while the McMichaels' case was predicated on the initial pursuit being lawful [it wasn't].

I want to be clear on the difference in open carry in both cases. Context matters. Merely existing in public with an openly carried firearm is not synonymous with brandishing or threatening. Having hands on the gun in low-ready while chasing a man down and demanding he comply IS.