A former Georgia prosecutor has denied using her power to shield the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in 2020.

As jury deliberations began Tuesday afternoon, Ahmaud Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper Jones said she believes all three men will be found guilty of killing her son.

Glynn County is preparing for more demonstrators as the trial moves along for the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery.

Nearly a year after a video surfaced showing 25-year-old Black man Ahmaud Arbery being chased down the street of a South Georgia neighborhood, and eventually shot to death, the three men accused in his murder have been indicted on federal hate crime charges.

The state House voted 169-0 to approve Senate changes to House Bill 479, sending it to Gov. The legislation was one of the top legislative priorities this session in the aftermath of the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The pressure for the hate crimes law became overwhelming last year after a public outcry over Arbery’s fatal shooting, which was recorded on video. One prosecutor assigned to the case cited Georgia’s citizen's arrest law to argue that the shooting was justified. The changes would retain Georgia’s “stand your ground” law that says a person isn’t required to retreat.

SATILLA SHORES, Ga. – One year after Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was chased and fatally shot while running in a Southeast Georgia neighborhood, his mother is still working to keep a promise she made to her son at his funeral. McMichael told investigators he went into his house to get his son, Travis McMichael. Within a day of taking over, the GBI announced the arrest of Travis and Greg McMichael for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. In May 2020, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requested the GBI open an investigation into the prosecutors who first handled the Arbery case. AdSince the arrests, the Georgia attorney general has appointed the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office to take over the prosecution of the case.

4:36 a.m.Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are in a dead heat in the race for Georgia. Currently, former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by just 11,438 votes statewide. The latest counts gives Trump’s Democratic challenger Joe Biden a small lead, but the race is still too early to call. The electoral vote has former vice president Joe Biden in front of President Donald Trump, 238-213, at this point. Mullaney adds an update on Wisconsin that helps out former vice president Joe Biden in the race for the White House.

Not far from where her son was shot and killed, Wanda Cooper-Jones cast her vote. “I couldn’t miss the election for nothing,” she said after voting in Glynn County on Tuesday. McMichael, his father, Gregory, and William Bryan face murder and various other charges in relation to Arbery’s death. Arbery’s death became a major national story after video of the encounter was released in early May. Former President Barack Obama called Arbery’s murder an “injustice.”In the following months, his first name alone became enough to evoke passionate and emotional responses.

HOUSTON, Texas – The mother of Ahmaud Arbery, Wanda Cooper Jones, attended the funeral of George Floyd and attendees who saw her said her presence at the procession was ‘powerful’. Cooper Jones told Muir that she "needed” to go to Houston to show support for Floyd’s family. Cooper Jones also added that the protests and rallies over Floyd’s death has given her some peace in her own son’s slaying. She told Muir that Arbery would be proud of her activism, her presence in Houston and the journey she’d embarked on to get him justice. There are stark differences between the deaths of the two men Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, but each triggered a mass outcry for justice from the public.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. The mother of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was chased and killed in Georgia while out on a jog, is calling for Georgia lawmakers to pass a hate crime law in response to her sons death and other hate-inspired crimes in the state. To me, this was clearly a hate crime, but Georgia is one of four states in the country without a hate crime law," Cooper-Jones said. The GBI investigator also said he had seen many other examples of Travis McMichael using the n-word on social media. Lee Merritt, attorney for Arbery family, said the new evidence should be instructive to the FBI investigation into federal hate crime charges. Last year, Georgia State House moved in the right direction, passing House Bill 426, which will impose harsher sentencing for hate crimes.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. Hundreds marched in honor of Ahmaud Arbery Saturday morning in Brunswick. Wanda Cooper-Jones, who led the march along with Arberys father, said walking 2.23 miles showed endurance just like how shes had to endure the justice for her son. The march was organized by the Lambda Tau Chapter of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. This man had dreams he had goals that were taken away from him, said Omega Psi Phi President Keith Reddings. Hundreds marched to honor the life of Ahmaud Arbery who was killed in February.