As opening statements in the well-awaited trial began on Friday morning, prosecutors accused the three white men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery of making a series of "assumptions and driveway judgments" that led to the death of the 25-year-old Black man in 2020.

Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan have all pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault, and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment in a case that sparked international interest after witness video emerged months after the killing in Brunswick, Georgia.

“We are here because of assumptions and driveway decisions,” lead prosecutor Linda Dunikoski told the jury of 11 white members and one Black member. “A very wise person once said do not assume the worst of another person’s intentions until you know what’s going on with them.”

She continued: “And in this case, all three of these defendants did everything that they did base on assumptions. And they made decisions in their driveways based on assumptions that took a young man’s life and that’s why we are here.”

Georgia's reaction to Arbery's death has become part of a larger campaign to redress racial inequality in the criminal justice system following a succession of tragic incidents between police and Black individuals, including George Floyd in Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.

Before the hearings began on Friday, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley swore in the overwhelmingly white jury. All three defendants are on trial together, accused of murder and other felonies.

Arbery had been dead for more than two months when McMichaels and Bryan were apprehended, prosecuted, and imprisoned in May 2020.