A Georgia county court overseeing the trial of Ahmaud Arbery has mistakenly exposed potential jurors to banned evidence, creating a chance for a mistrial.
Jury candidates who visited the Glynn County Superior Court website to learn about the jury duty process had easy access to all the motions filed so far on the murdered black jogger and the three suspected killers, Travis and Gregory McMichael and William 'Roddie' Bryan.'
Among the documents jurors could access was the mental health and prior criminal history records of the victim, which a judged removed as admissible evidence from the trial.
It also included evidence of Travis's truck with a Confederate flag vanity plate and how often he and his father's used their firearms. The judge has yet to decide whether these two pieces of evidence will be admissible in court.
'We are aware of that issue, and the decision about that [solutions] will be made by the judge,' Glynn County Superior Court Clerk Ronald Adams told VICE News.
Ahmaud Arbery, 25, died on February 23, 2020, while he was out for a run in his neighborhood
Travis McMichael (left) his father Gregory McMichael (center) and their friend William 'Roddie' Bryan, right, have all been charged with federal hate crimes over the death of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery
Suparna Malempati, a professor at John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, said the courts error court hurt the validity of the trial.
'Prominently displaying that information and it being accessible to jurors with just a click of a button, I would say is problematic,' Malempati said.
'When potential jurors have information that may or may not be admitted in the courtroom, the jurors may be influenced.'
But the chances of this incident trigger a mistrial is slim.
The court has only recently verified eight potential jurors among a pool of dozens, who would then be whittled down to the 12 jurors who will oversee the trial, the Associate Press reports.
It is unclear if steps have since been taken to remove the evidence that is not supposed to have been shared.
The defense had previously asked to use Arbery's mental health records to argue that it could have influenced his actions on the day of his death.
A judge ultimately ruled that such records would not be allowed in court as it would violate the late Arbery's right to medical privacy, as would any use of previous run-ins with the police.
Arbery was chased by the armed McMichaels as he was jogging last February
