Travis McMichael and his father Gregory McMichael were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release on Friday in Georgia for the “chilling” 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man running through their predominantly white neighborhood.
Judge Timothy Walmsley also sentenced their next-door neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan to a life sentence, but said he might seek parole after 30 years in jail, Georgia’s minimum punishment for murder.
The judge reprimanded the three men for what he described as their mistake of failing to perceive Arbery as just another neighbor, echoing sentiments made by Arbery’s grieving relatives earlier in the hearing at Glynn County Superior Court.
He said he awarded the McMichaels the strongest penalty possible because of their “callous” remarks and conduct captured on a cellphone video, which drew national anger when it was released in the summer of 2020.
The judge described the clip in the film where McMichael begins to elevate his shotgun at Arbery while the 25-year-old is around 20 feet away as “a terrifying, absolutely awful scene.” “I kept thinking about how terrified the young man rushing through Satilla Shores must have been.”
Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and their next-door neighbor Bryan, 52, were convicted guilty of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal intent to commit a felony by a jury in November.
The judge agreed with prosecutors and Arbery’s relatives that the three white males had “assumed the worst” about Arbery, who was “hunted down and shot, and he was slain because individuals here in this courtroom took the law into their own hands,” according to the judge.
Arbery’s family had previously told the court that they believed racial stereotyping was to blame for the death of the ardent jogger, who grew up and still resided across the highway from the Satilla Shores community where he died. Defense attorneys had asked for mercy, claiming that none of the three men intended for Arbery to be killed and that the death penalty should only be reserved for the “worst of the worst” perpetrators.
Jasmine Arbery spoke to the court in a quavering voice before the judge’s decision, offering a poetic celebration of her younger brother’s Blackness, which she claimed was mistook for something dangerous by his attackers.
“He had black skin that glistened like gold in the sunlight. He had curly hair that he liked to twist a lot. Ahmaud had a large nose and dark-colored eyes, which were flecked with melanin “she stated “. These characteristics led these men to believe Ahmaud was a dangerous criminal. Those characteristics spoke to me of a young man full of life and vitality who resembled me and the people I care about.”
ARBERY’S MOTHER IS QUOTED BY THE JUDGE
The primary prosecutor, Linda Dunikoski, had pushed for the maximum punishment for just the two McMichaels, citing “a documented history of vigilantism.” She said that father and son acted as if they were above the law, citing Gregory McMichael’s prior position as an investigator for the local prosecutor’s office.
Bryan’s lawyer, Kevin Gough, urged for leniency because he was the only one of the three who chased Arbery without a weapon.
The three men’s attorneys have stated that they will appeal their convictions. In February, the men will stand trial in federal court on hate-crime charges, accusing them of infringing on Arbery’s civil rights by abusing him based on his “race and color.”
The state’s argument depended on whether the defendants had the right to confront Arbery based on a suspicion that he was fleeing after committing a crime under a now-repealed Georgia rule allowing citizen arrests. The jury was not swayed by Travis McMichael’s sobbing statement that he shot only in self-defense, despite the fact that he was the only defendant to testify.
On the afternoon of Feb. 23, Arbery was jogging through the leafy Satilla Shores neighborhood when the McMichaels decided to fetch their firearms, jump in a pickup truck, and give chase.
After the chase passed through his driveway, Bryan got into his own pickup truck and brought out his phone to video Travis McMichael firing a shotgun at Arbery at close range. Apart from his running clothing and sneakers, Arbery had nothing on him.
When the video was released months later, it sparked nationwide protests against racism in the criminal justice system, as it became evident that none of the individuals involved had been punished after a local prosecutor concluded the killing was justified.
Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, told the court on Friday that “they chose to target my son because they didn’t want him in their community.” “When they couldn’t scare or intimidate him enough, they killed him.”
The judge referenced the mother’s comments in his sentencing, saying they struck him as “quite accurate.”
“At the very least, Ahmaud Arbery should drive us to reconsider our idea of a neighbor and how we treat them,” the judge remarked.
