One of Ahmaud Arbery's accused killers said 'no good deed goes unpunished' in a jail phone call

• One of Ahmaud Arbery's accused killers said "no good deed goes unpunished" in a jail phone call.
• The prosecution is seeking to admit the call from Gregory McMichael as evidence at trial.
• McMichael's attorney argued his comment is being misrepresented and should be excluded from evidence.

One of the men accused of killing Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery last year in Georgia said "no good deed goes unpunished" in a jail phone call.

The call is one of about 1500 recorded conversations from the three co-defendants that the prosecution on Thursday argued should be entered into evidence at trial.

In the jail phone call, Gregory McMichael says the narrative that he and his son killed Arbery simply because he was a Black man running in a white neighborhood is "bull****."

"You've heard the saying that no good deed goes unpunished?" McMichael says.

"Yeah, that's the shining example right there," a man on the other line responded.

McMichael's attorney told the court that the prosecution would misrepresent his client's comment to a jury.

"The state believes he is saying the good deed was killing Ahmaud Arbery, but that is not what he meant," the attorney, Franklin Hogue, said. "He meant the good deed was patrolling his neighborhood and the punishment is him now being in jail charged with his death."

Hogue argued that entering the jail phone calls into evidence would violate the defendant's due process rights. The prosecution said making those calls is a privilege, not a right, and noted all inmates are made aware that the conversations are being recorded though a prerecorded message before each call.

Arbery was shot dead on February 23, 2020 after a run-in with Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are white.

Gregory McMichael, who is a former police officer himself, told police that he and his son believed Arbery looked like a burglary suspect. They pursued Arbery in a truck while carrying guns in order to make a citizens arrest, McMichael has said.

A neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, joined the chase and recorded the close-range shooting. Prosecutors allege Bryan also struck Arbery with a truck.

All three men face state murder charges, and separately pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal civil rights charges.

Chatham County Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley began hearing 11 motions related to the Arbery killing on Wednesday, and arguments continued into Thursday. Among the motions are requests from the defense to enter Arbery's prior interactions with law enforcement and his mental health into evidence.

The murder trial for the McMichaels and Bryan is scheduled for October.