Defense attorney Jason Sheffield suggested in his closing statement on Monday that the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery were "very scared" of him.
In his closing remarks to the jury, Sheffield appeared to be speaking to the fears of white jurors.
"You heard about Satilla Shores from several witnesses who came to talk to you about what they were experiencing in this once-idyllic neighborhood," the attorney advised. "A neighborhood that was once a place where elderly would walk at night, kids would play after dark."
Sheffield said that his client, Travis McMichael, noticed the change in the neighborhood because of messages posted on Facebook.
"This neighborhood was being covered in suspicious persons, extra watches, neighborhood patrols and concerned citizens," he explained. "The types of things these neighbors would talk about to each other was about the crime that was being committed to them, to their neighbors, crime that they had seen happening across the street from them."
"They told you that what was happening in their neighborhood scared them," he continued. "It caused them concern, it was unsettling to imagine people lurking and sneaking around your property at night."
Sheffield went on to call the incidents "frightening" and said that neighbors were "very scared" before Arbery, a Black man, was killed by McMichael.
