Ahmaud Arbery Case: Sentencing in U.S. District Court for Travis McMichael one the three men convicted of federal hate crimes
AGN.News Team
August 8, 2022
BRUNSWICK (AGN.News) – On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was jogging through a Brunswick neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia.
What happened Ahmaud Arbery?
As he exited home under construction, three white men, Travis McMichael, armed with a shotgun, and his father, Gregory McMichael, armed with a handgun, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, in his truck and using his phone to video the chase, erroneously assumed he was a burglar. The two McMichaels who are now carrying guns, began chasing Arbery in their pickup truck (the son driving and the father in the bed of the truck).
What did the men do to Arbery?
The three white men pursued Arbery in their trucks for several minutes, using the vehicles to block his path as he tried to run away. Two of the men, Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, were armed and in one vehicle. Their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, was in another vehicle.
After overtaking Arbery, Travis McMichael exited his truck and assaulted Arbery with a shotgun. As Arbery attempted to defend himself, Travis McMichael shot him three times (twice in the chest), murdering him. Bryan recorded this confrontation and murder of Arbery on his cell phone.
Federal and state charges
It was reported that at the urging of Gregory McMichael, a local attorney provided Bryan’s video to local radio station WGIG, which published the video on May 5. The video went viral on YouTube and Twitter. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) arrested the McMichaels on May 7 and Bryan on May 21, charging them with felony murder and other crimes.
On June 24, 2020, a Cobb County grand jury indicted each of the three men on charges of malice murder, felony murder, and other crimes. Their trial began in November 2021 in the Glynn County Superior Court.
All three were convicted in Glynn County Superior Court on November 24, 2021 of felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. Travis McMichael was further convicted of malice murder.
On January 7, 2022, the McMichaels were sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole plus 20 years, with Bryan sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
On February 22, 2022, the three men were found guilty in a federal court of attempted kidnapping and the hate crime of interference with rights, while the McMichaels were also convicted of one count of using firearms during a crime of violence.
Today, August 8, 2022, the three men were sentenced in U.S. District Court before U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood. First, Travis McMichael, the man who shot and killed Ahmaud Arbery was sentenced to life in prison for federal hate crimes convictions involving the 25-year-old’s slaying. There is also no parole in the federal prison system.
“You received a fair trial,” U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood told McMichael. “It was the kind of trial Ahmaud Arbery did not receive.”
His attorney wanted Judge Lisa Wood to send him to federal prison and not state prison.
Judge Wood denied the request to send McMichael into federal custody. She noted the state of Georgia was the first to arrest, try, convict and sentence McMichael for Arbery’s murder. When that is the case, defendants who are later convicted of federal crimes begin serving their time in state court, she said
Judge Wood noted that McMichael would be turned over to the Georgia Department of Corrections since the state of Georgia was the first to try, convict, and sentence him for Arbery’s murder.
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Written by
AGN.News Team
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