I think it matters and I think it should matter. Perhaps not in court, but certainly in the court of public opinion. In the OP's case, we had three felons against an upstanding citizen. I'll take the upstanding citizen's side right off the bat, unless it can be proven otherwise that he acted improperly. In Arbery's case he was certainly NOT a model citizen which likely was a clue why he was even there in the first place, and why neighborhood folks were suspicious. Nobody had any "right" to kill him but if a struggle ensued and he ended up getting shot, then the worst it should be is negligent homicide. The media was certainly successful in selling their propaganda as a "lynching" to the public and getting ahead of the facts.Yeah spelled it wrong but you got my point.
Doesn't matter if he was on probation. Not saying he was a model citizen but that does not apply in this case. They had no legal right to stop or chase him. Whether he was 'just jogging' or casing the neighborhood doesn't matter either. 'Casing' a neighborhood is not a crime and is nearly impossible to prove even if it was. There was no crime committed and if there was it had to be witnessed by a citizen for citizens arrest to apply. Even if he had stolen from that house if nobody saw it with their own eyes then citizens arrest does not apply.