FILE -
This
photo
combo
shows,
from
left to
right,
Travis
McMichael,
William
"Roddie"
Bryan,
and
Gregory
McMichael
during
their
trial at
at the
Glynn
County
Courthouse
in
Brunswick,
Ga.
Months
after
they
were
sentenced
to life
in
prison
for
murder,
the
three
white
men who
chased
and
killed
Ahmaud
Arbery
in a
Georgia
neighborhood
faced a
second
round of
criminal
penalties
Monday,
Aug. 8,
2022,
for
federal
hate
crimes
committed
in the
deadly
pursuit
of the
25-year-old
Black
man.
(Pool
via AP,
File) |
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A poster
depicting
Ahmaud
Arbery
is seen
outside
the
Glynn
County
Courthouse
while
Greg
McMichael,
his son
Travis
McMichael
and
William
"Roddie"
Bryan
are
tried
over the
killing
of
Ahmaud
Arbery,
in
Brunswick,
Georgia,
U.S.,
November
23,
2021.
REUTERS/Marco
Bello |
|
Ahmaud
Arbery’s
murderers
sentenced
to life,
35 years
on hate
crimes
charges
reuters.com
BRUNSWICK,
Ga., - A
judge
sentenced
a white
father
and son
to life
in
prison
and
their
neighbor
to 35
years on
Monday
for a
federal
hate
crime in
the 2020
murder
of
Ahmaud
Arbery,
a Black
man shot
after
jogging
in a
suburban
Georgia
neighborhood.
Travis
McMichael,
a
36-year-old
former
U.S.
Coast
Guard
mechanic,
his
father
Gregory
McMichael,
a
66-year-old
former
Glynn
County
police
officer
who
later
worked
for the
local
prosecutor's
office,
and
William
"Roddie"
Bryan, a
52-year-old
mechanic,
were
sentenced
in the
coastal
city of
Brunswick.
The
three
already
are
serving
life
sentences
after
being
convicted
of
murder
in a
state
trial
last
November,
with
only
Bryan
given
the
possibility
of
parole.
All
three
then
were
convicted
in
February
of
federal
charges
of
violating
Arbery's
civil
rights
by
attacking
him
because
of his
race and
of
attempted
kidnapping,
with the
McMichaels
also
found
guilty
of a
firearms
charge.
They
were
sentenced
on the
federal
charges
in
separate
hearings
on
Monday
by U.S.
District
Judge
Lisa
Godbey
Wood. In
handing
down the
younger
McMichael's
sentence
first,
Wood
said
widely
seen
cellphone
video of
him
shooting
Arbery,
25, at
close
range
with a
shotgun
was
seared
into her
memory.
"You
acted
because
of the
color of
Mr.
Arbery's
skin,"
the
judge
told
McMichael,
who
looked
ashen as
the
sentence
was
pronounced.
"I do
know
that you
received
a fair
trial,
it is
that
kind of
a trial
that
Ahmaud
Arbery
did not
receive
before
he was
shot and
killed,"
the
judge
added.
Gregory
McMichael,
speaking
to the
court
before
he was
sentenced,
told
Arbery's
family,
"The
loss
that
you've
endured
is
beyond
description."
Some of
Arbery's
relatives
wiped
away
tears in
a
courtroom
crowded
with
spectators
who
included
civil
rights
leader
Jesse
Jackson.
"I'm
sure
that my
words
mean
very
little
to you,
but I
want to
assure
you I
never
wanted
any of
this to
happen,"
Gregory
McMichael
said.
"There
was no
malice
in my
heart or
my son's
heart
that
day."
He
apologized
to his
son, who
declined
his own
chance
to
testify,
and to
his
wife,
who
began
sobbing.
He did
not
explicitly
apologize
to
Arbery's
family.
During
his
hearing,
Bryan
said,
"I'm
glad to
finally
have the
chance
to say
to
Arbery's
family
and
friends
how
sorry I
am for
what
happened
to him
on that
day."
The
judge
said
Bryan
deserved
a
shorter
sentence
than the
McMichaels
because
he did
not
bring a
gun to
the
chase.
But the
judge
also
said,
"You do
not
deserve
a light
sentence."
She
added
that
Bryan
would be
about 90
years
old
before
he
completes
his
federal
sentence.
'THREE
DEVILS'
Marcus
Arbery,
the
slain
man's
father,
told the
court
during
the
first
hearing:
"These
three
devils
have
broken
my heart
into
pieces
that
cannot
be found
or
repaired."
Referring
to
Travis
McMichael,
he
added:
"You
hate
Black
people."
"I
struggled
to come
to the
realization
that a
father
could
actually
accompany
his son
to take
a life,"
Wanda
Cooper
Jones,
Arbery's
mother,
told the
second
hearing
in
urging a
life
sentence
for
Gregory
McMichael.
Lawyers
for the
McMichaels
and
Bryan on
Monday
referred
to other
deaths
of Black
Americans,
including
George
Floyd
and the
10 men
and
women
shot at
a
supermarket
in
Buffalo,
New
York.
The
defense
lawyers
argued
their
clients
should
not be
treated
more
harshly
than
others
similarly
accused
in a
series
of cases
that
have
drawn
attention
to
racism
and
violence
in the
United
States.
Arbery,
an avid
jogger
and
fitness
buff,
was
running
through
the
leafy,
mostly
white
Satilla
Shores
neighborhood,
near
Brunswick,
on a
February
2020
afternoon
when the
McMichaels
decided
to grab
their
guns,
jump in
a pickup
truck
and give
chase.
Their
neighbor
Bryan
joined
the
chase in
his own
pickup
truck
and
pulled
out his
cellphone
to
record
Travis
McMichael
firing a
shotgun
at
Arbery
at close
range.
Arbery
had
nothing
on him
besides
his
running
clothes
and
sneakers.
The
video
emerged
months
later,
prompting
protests
in many
U.S.
cities
because
the
three
men had
not been
arrested
after a
local
prosecutor
concluded
the
killing
was
justified.
The
McMichaels
had said
they
believed
that
Arbery
appeared
suspicious,
speaking
of a
series
of
neighborhood
break-ins.
No
evidence
ever
emerged
connecting
Arbery
to any
Satilla
Shore
thefts.
In
addition
to a
life
sentence,
Travis
McMichael
was
given an
additional
10-year
sentence
for
using a
firearm
in
commission
of the
crime,
and
Gregory
McMichael
was
given an
additional
seven
years
for
brandishing
a gun.
The
three
had been
convicted
in state
court of
murder,
aggravated
assault,
false
imprisonment
and
criminal
intent
to
commit a
felony,
with a
jury
rejecting
self-defense
claims.
They
have
appealed.
read
more
The
three
had
sought
to be
transferred
out of
the
state
prison
system
into a
federal
prison
they
perceived
as
safer.
Wood
said the
rules
require
that
they
return
to the
state
prison
system
where
they are
serving
life
sentences.
Reporting
by Rich
McKay in
Brunswick,
Ga.;
Additional
reporting
by
Jonathan
Allen in
New
York;
Editing
by Will
Dunham
and
Donna
Bryson
Our
Standards:
The
Thomson
Reuters
Trust
Principles.
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