Letter to the editor: After Arbery verdict, grateful for justice

It is a special season of Thanksgiving not only for the loving family of Ahmaud Arbery, but for all who believe in equality and justice under the law.

The guilty verdicts against the killers were initially improbable. The case did not come to light until months after the murder. The crime took place in the Deep South. The defense succeeded in allowing only one Black juror on the panel of 12 within a community which is 27% Black. The lead defense attorney had the audacity to plead for there to be no more “Black pastors” in the courtroom. I imagine the defendants felt that they would be shielded by the “citizen’s arrest” provision of Georgia law that was in effect at the time of the murder, but the jury looked at the facts and rightfully concluded that the law did not extend to allowing vigilantism, allowing armed men to hunt down and kill a Black man on the mere suspicion that he may have committed a crime.

As President Biden said, Ahmaud Arbery should be alive to be celebrating Thanksgiving with his parents this year. He was tragically taken at the dawn of what would otherwise likely have been decades of vibrant life. May the verdict in this case provide consolation for those who loved this man. May it serve as a lesson to those who might be inclined to shoot to kill those who do not look like them on the grounds of suspicion.

The name Ahmaud Arbery surely will endure as a part of history, signifying a case in which justice was served.

Oren Spiegler

Peters