>> no, your honor. >> no, your honor. you are ordered to remain in custody with the sheriff and we are adjourned. >> after the guilty verdict was read, a press conference was held outside of the courthouse. the family of the attorneys delivered remarks. this runs about 25 minute. [applause]

>> s -- let us say first and foremost, we are going to start by thanking god. or shining on us, let us thank the prosecutor. let us thank the activists. that was called a mob. they marched and stood up. let us thank all of the people who believed and let us more than anything more than anything

thank the mothers and fathers. they lost a son. their son will go down in history as one that proved that if you hold on, justice can come. this mother would tell me, reverent, you're going to end this. she kept praying. we have to get some justice. let the word go forth, all over the world, a jury of 11 white men and one black in the deep south stood up in a courtroom and said that black lives do matter. let us be clear. for 10 years after trade, not once, but the sun was proved that if we kept arching and cap fighting, -- kept fighting, they would hear us.

have a lot of battles to fight, but this was an important battle. this was proven that our children know their value. those people that marched, the people here, they were here when nobody else was here. they stood up. [applause] brunswick, georgia will go down in history as a place that criminal justice took a different turn. let us pray. dear god, dear god. we come. thank you for your mercy. thank you for giving us a prosecutors team that looked to us like they stack to the jury,

and you still found a way to open up the minds of people with evidence and way it based on facts, not skin color. you gave strength to this mother and to this father. to not give up on you. even when many of us doubted you. even when many of us said it was not going to happen. you came into the state of georgia, a state known for segregation, estate known for jim crow, and you turned it around. you took a young, unarmed boy, and you made sure god was working. you took his name in history today. years from now, decades from now, there will be talk about a boy name ahmaud arbery who taught this country what justice looks like. as we go forth, let us go forth

with the victory you've given us. thank everyone in brunswick that marched, that stood out in front of this courthouse. that was called a lynch mob but they kept on marching. let us know that all whites are not racist. all blacks are not worthless. we are all your children. we will give you the glory -- the glory be yours not ours. let us not be proud, and let us not be vengeful. but let us be frank -- thankful that you brought us closer together today. these blessings we ask in your name and your faith. thank you, lord. thank you, lord. we have never had a thanksgiving quite like today. we were -- we will hear from the attorneys and the parents. let us give them to wanda who is

running for texas attorney general. she will not say it but i will say. we need attorney's like this. followed by the attorney general of black america who flew in even as he handled other cases. these lawyers kept going to the wall and stood up. we walked out of court with tears in our eyes. we cried inside, but they were tears of joy because people like thurgood marshall broke down barriers. they produced [inaudible] >> you do not want to hear from me. you want to hear from the family of ahmaud arbery. we want to wrap our arms around them. the only reason i am speaking is to provide an introduction for a praying mother. you all know her from the last

18 months. 18 months ago when she learned about her son, she was told that she would just have to deal with it alone. they told her that there would be no arrests. there would be no accountability or justice. she made her son a promise. that her mom -- his mom would find justice for him. he had to change. she couldn't find justice in the glynn county -- on february 23, there was a prosecutor named jackie johnson. wanda cooper prayed and she made criminal charges herself. when she came to glynn county, when she was looking for justice and glynn county, she was faced with a corrupt legal system that did not investigate her sons death during the course the child. -- trial. she did her own investigation

and hired her own attorneys. can you all join me in giving around of applause? [applause] >> amen. >> i just want to thank you guys. thank you. thank you to everyone of you. you fought the fight with us. it has been a long fight. it is been a hard fight. but god is good. >> yes he is. early in, i never thought this day would come. back in 2020. i never thought this day would come. but god is good. i was going to tell everybody thank you. thank you for those who marched, those who prayed, most of all the ones who prayed. thank you god. thank you. you know him as ahmad, i know

him as my son. he will rest in peace. >> amen. [applause] [inaudible] >> you all heard what came out of marcus aubrey when they pronounce travis mcmichael guilty. he could not contain it any further because, think about how long he and wanda have been suffering innuendo, allegation, all of the terrible accusations. dirty toenails. just imagine all they went through, that when he heard that

read, he could not contain himself because marcus, as a father, they see their job to protect their children. you can experience the pain of a mother and a father who witnessed what they witnessed, not being there to protect their child. every parent in america can take solace in knowing that we have an example of how to build tragedy and grief when they look at the example of marcus aubrey and wanda cooper. we should applaud them. they should be applauded. [applause] >> i tell you. we -- we -- we, together, we did

this. we altogether, activists, lawyers, prosecutors. we did this together. we will make america better than when we found that video. we need to acknowledge, even though we are clapping and cheering, wanda and marcus still are devastated because they miss ahmad. they are devastated. even though, this is not a celebration, it is a reflection that we acknowledge the spirit of ahmad defeated the lynch mob. the spirit of ahmad defeated the

lynch mob. the spirit of ahmad defeated the lynch mob. marcus aubrey. [applause] >> number one, vesta made all this possible. number two, i want to thank his mother. i want to thank my sisters and brothers. [indiscernible] i know what they had to deal with. number two, i would think all of you all, everyone of you. you did this. everyone of you. you put us altogether. [indiscernible] i'm going to put you here and put you there. we did this thing.

that wouldn't have happened. we knew what was working and what wasn't working. we have people working hard. [indiscernible] black kids lives don't matter, but all lives matter. we don't want to see nobody going through this. i don't want to see any kid get shot down. it is all of our problems. all of our problems. let's keep fighting and this keep doing it. let's pray for all human beings. all human beings. everybody. everybody. all human beings need to be treated equally. today is a good day.

[applause] >> before the lawyers combat, as i said to all of the activist activists, we thank them. we think those -- reverence. -- reverence -- reverends. this pastor stood with the family and others. he has been your from the beginning. all of them came on thursday. we want to thank cliff. he has been a rock. i want to thank, if he is watching, reverend jesse jackson. his name came down and that courtroom, and this is the fight of black activists, so we can unite and beat the bomb that

killed our men. i must say, we want to thank the prosecutors. [applause] >> they stood and fought for this family. tomorrow, and all of our joy today, there will be an empty chair at wanda's table. ahmed will not be at thanksgiving, tomorrow. but she can look at that chair and say to ahmed, i fought a good fight. we cannot fill that chair, but we can say that you are a mother you will fought for your son. you fought for yours, marcus, and even though it will be a sober thanksgiving, you can thank god that you did not let your boy down.

>> then and i -- ben and i had a difficult job to turn this over to the prosecutor. we want to, as attorneys and advocates, we want to exercise control over something this important, and it was difficult to relinquish that control to the prosecutors. of course, we had to. it is the law. they did what they had to do to secure a condition -- conviction, and i applaud them for putting on an airtight case. dave invited wanda and marcus and their supporters to stand with them for the press conference, and we are going to do something else. you're not taking any questions. we are going to step back and allow the prosecutors to make a presentation about their case, and we stand with them and thank them for their efforts. >> it is a good example for when

he takes attorney general. [applause] >> i am the executive assistant district attorney for the cobb county --. >> give them the respect they richly deserve. >> hello, i am the executive assistant district attorney for the cobb county district attorney's office. i bring you readings and remarks from our district attorney who was appointed as district attorney pro tem for this case and for the prosecution of this

case. unfortunately, he was not able to be here due to a family medical emergency. first and foremost, we want you to know, from the moment this case came to our office, it was our foremost goat -- gold to get justice for ahmaud arbery's family. in particular, we are so very proud and they both for the confidence that the family has given us. we admire and commend the courage and steadfastness and strength of miss wanda cooper-jones, ahmad's mother. and mr. marcus aubrey, the father of ahmad. in seeking justice during this process, it has been a long road and we are so happy that we were able to be here at the end of this road. we would like to say thank you, and have courage and bravery of the story. to say what happened on february 23, 2020 two ahmad aubrey, the

hunting and killing of ahmaud arbery was not only morally wrong but legally wrong. we are thankful for that. we want to thank specifically recognizing the people who have been involved in regards to the prosecution of this case. in particular, our team. our lead attorney, senior assistant district attorney linda dunakowski. assistant district attorney larissa oliveira. senior assistant district attorney paul camera low. -- deputy chief investigator people amount. karen watson, investigator darius mcclure. we have people who are at home who are helping us in regards to this case.

jayda, who is here, cindy bard, sarah, a laramie floyd, our communications department, our fire and ema. we also need to thank the gbi, they georgia bureau of investigation's in particular, director vic reynolds. special agents lawrence kelly and inspector steve rogers. we need to thank the glenn county police department chief, ricky evans and captain jeremiah reckless -- berkless. we to think glenn cardi -- we need to thank glenn county -- and sergeant chris black.

we also think operations managers for homeland security. -- thank operations manager for homeland security. ahmaud arbery's has signaled changes in this community and in the nation. with the passage of the hate crimes bill and the change of the antiquated civil arrest law. we think the family and the community at large -- thank the family and the community at large. we would like to have remarks from our team. our senior assistant district attorney and lead attorney linda. [applause]

>> thank you. i want everyone to know this was a gigantic team effort. the trust in our team, i could not do it without my partners. there were all instrumental in making this happen. we had so many people on the team that helped bring justice. we really appreciate the support that we had and the faith from wanda cooper-jones who has been with us and put their faith in us and trusted us to bring justice. the verdict today was the verdict based on the facts. the evidence. that was our goal. two show the jury how to do the right thing.

the jury system works in this country. when you present the truth to people, they will do the right thing. that is what you did today. thank you. [applause] >> there is a lady who has been here. hey! hey, hey, where is marcus at? the parents, wanda and marcus and the family of ahmaud arbery, all of us, we have been here

most days of the trial. there is a lady who is steadfast in her conviction. she is one of those naacp warriors. ms. polite, 87 years old, has been here every day of jury selection and every day of trial. let us thank -- where is she at? ms. polite! it is people like her while we got justice. -- why we got justice.

[applause] ♪ >> a new mobile video from c-span. c-span now. download it today. >> long time reporter david sheppard is back for a cosa