Kevin Gough argued that the Rev. Al Sharpton’s presence in court was intimidating to the jury. “We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here,” he said.
When Kevin Gough, a lawyer for one of the three men accused of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, said that the presence of the Rev. Al Sharpton in the courtroom this week had been “intimidating” to jurors — and then added, “We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here” — Mr. Sharpton, like many others, seemed equally offended and astonished. “I’ve been through a lot of trials over the decades,” Mr. Sharpton, the 67-year-old civil rights veteran and TV personality, said in an interview with TMZ. “I’ve never had a lawyer ask that I not be able to come to court.” Mr. Gough’s call on Thursday for Judge Timothy R. Walmsley to ban what Mr. Gough called “high-profile members of the African American community” from the Brunswick, Ga., courtroom has been widely condemned. “It says something that has been long part of the racist mind-set, that Blackness equals intimidation,” said the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, another civil rights leader who visited the Glynn County Courthouse this week. The statements also seem to fit a pattern of provocation from a lawyer who, both during this trial and long before, seems to thrive on it. Last week, Mr. Gough tried to call for a mistrial in the case before opening statements. He sought to convince Judge Walmsley that it was unconstitutional to have jurors come to court on Veterans Day. And he tried unsuccessfully to have peaceful demonstrators — most of whom are calling for justice for Mr. Arbery — moved from the front lawn of the courthouse on grounds that they might “intimidate or influence the jury.” Mr. Gough represents the defendant William Bryan, who goes by Roddie. He is facing a possible life sentence for his role in trying to detain Mr. Arbery as he ran through the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick in February 2020. On Friday morning, after the outrage over his comments spread online, Mr. Gough issued an apology in court to “anyone who might have inadvertently been offended.” In a brief phone interview on Friday evening, he added: “I have nothing against Al Sharpton. But I don’t represent Al Sharpton. Not today, anyway. In this trial, I represent Roddie Bryan, and my duty is to ensure that Mr.
