William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., who — along with father-and-son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael — is charged with the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, is asking to be released from a Georgia prison.
Bryan, 50, is requesting a “humanitarian release” from Glynn County Detention Center due to high blood pressure.
All three defendants have previously had bail denied.
Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, requested a hearing from the Glynn County Superior Court on Dec. 31, but a date has not been set.
“He has already seen a cardiologist and is medicated, but the sporadic checks of his blood pressure regularly reflect blood pressure in excess of 180/100,” Gough wrote of his client.
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Gough also claimed that Bryan’s blood pressure reading near the end of the year was 190/100. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. Gough implied the “out of control” medical condition could lead to Bryan’s death.
“Assuming he survives long enough to have a trial,” Gough wrote in the brief, “Mr. Bryan’s ability to attend, follow along, and participate meaningfully in his own trial would be greatly impaired if this issue is not addressed.”
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In the Feb. 2020 shooting of 25-year-old Arbery, Bryan struck and pinned him in with his truck just moments before he was shot dead by the younger McMichael. He reportedly told investigators he heard McMichael call Arbery a “f**king ni**er” as the jogger lay dying in the street.
Following the initial arrest of the McMichaels in early May, Bryan was in police custody two weeks later after video evidence captured on his own cell phone went viral, leading to widespread fury, area protests, the Arbury case being opened by local authorities and a probe by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. All three men were indicted by a grand jury on charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.
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Bryan was denied bail in mid-July for several reasons: A judge noted his frequent use of the n-word, which was discovered in his cell phone records, as well as the fact that his ex-wife resides in Costa Rica, which makes him a potential flight risk.
At his hearing, the GBI announced a child molestation case against him rooted in texts they discovered, “an additional parallel investigation into sex crimes that stemmed from this,” said Cobb County Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans. “This now also heightens the risk of flight, as well.”
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