A pair of notable Macon attorneys are leading the legal defense for one of two white men accused of fatally shooting an unarmed black man in the Satilla Shores neighborhood outside Brunswick.
Gregory McMichael has retained Laura D. Hogue and Franklin J. Hogue as his legal counsel in a case that has drawn national attention, according to the Macon Telegraph.
In a statement late Wednesday, Franklin Hogue said the “full story, to be revealed in time, will tell the truth about this case,” the Telegraph reported.
“While the death of Ahmaud Arbery is a tragedy, causing deep grief to his family — a tragedy that at first appears to many to fit into a terrible pattern in American life — this case does not fit that pattern,” Franklin Hogue said in the statement.
The GBI arrested McMichael, 64, and his son, Travis McMichael, 34, on murder and aggravated assault charges Thursday, the day before Arbery would have turned 26 years old. The arrests came days after video of the Feb. 23 deadly shooting leaked online, AJC.com previously reported.
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The men told authorities they suspected Arbery of burglaries and that he became violent when confronted. Arbery’s family said he was jogging in the McMichaels’ neighborhood at the time.
Travis McMichael is represented by Peters, Rubin, Sheffield and Hodges of Decatur.
Hogue is touted as one of Georgia's most prominent criminal defense attorneys, AJC.com previously reported. One half of the Hogue and Hogue law firm, he represented convicted killer Stephen McDaniel in 2011. McDaniel faced the death penalty in the murder of Mercer University law school graduate Lauren Giddings, whose dismembered torso was found in a rolling trash can outside her apartment.
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His wife, Laura Hogue, is a former president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She was the 10th woman to hold the position in 50 years.
“So often the public accepts a narrative driven by an incomplete set of facts, one that vilifies a good person, based on a rush to judgment, which has happened in this case,” Laura Hogue said of the Arbery case.
In the statement, the Hogues said they will schedule a preliminary hearing in McMichael’s case, “at which hearing more of the truth will come out, and they will petition the court to set bail,” the Telegraph reported.
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