Katie Phang: Defense Lawyer ‘Dehumanized’ Ahmaud Arbury by Describing His ‘Dirty Toenails’

EXCERPT:

PHANG: "Well, I think it was a critical misstep by the defense attorney, but if you’re the defense attorney, you know what you’re doing, you’re dehumanizing the victim, right? You’re making it so that the person who was the ultimate victim in this case, Ahmaud Arbery, didn’t really have a lot of value. So you’re kind of suggesting to the jury, look, not only did he provoke this, but at the end of the day, it’s okay, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, if you want to acquit my client because it really wasn’t anything of value. It is beyond insulting to devalue and to dehumanize Mr. Arbery, but I'm not surprised because there has been this idea in this case that it was okay to chase down a man for five minutes who was black because he was running down the street fleeing for his life. But I want to point out something I think that is really important and why I still have faith in an ultimate conviction in this case, Joy, and it’s because there was no judge drama in this case unlike the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.”