Security for Arbery death trial cost taxpayers $1.08 million

A small group of civil rights activist and media wait outside the Glynn County Courthouse where a jury started deliberating the trial of Greg McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. The jury began deliberating Tuesday after hearing 10 days of testimony. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton)

The trial of three white men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery cost local taxpayers $1.08 million for security and other expenses related to the high-profile case, which sometimes drew large crowds to the courthouse but resulted in no violence.

Commissioners in coastal Glynn County, Georgia, said during a Tuesday meeting they spent the money on overtime and other costs stemming from having extra sheriff’s deputies, police and other public safety personnel on the clock during the five-week trial, The Brunswick News reported.

Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck after spotting the 25-year-old Black man running in their neighborhood Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery at close range with a shotgun.