Ahmaud Arbery murder: Killers handed life in prison
January 7, 2022
A judge in the southern US state of Georgia sentenced three white men to life in prison on Friday for chasing and fatally shooting 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in February 2020.
The father and son convicted in the case were handed life sentences without parole — while the third man was given a life sentence, but with a chance for parole
The sentencing comes after the three men were found guilty in November of murdering Arbery, a Black man who had gone for a run in the neighborhood where he was killed.
The case sparked national outrage — with Arbery's family urging the court to hand out the maximum sentence possible.
What happened in the court?
Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced 66-year-old Greg McMichael, his 35-year-old son Travis McMichael, and their neighbor 52-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan, to life in prison — the mandatory sentence for being found guilty of the murder.
The main question was whether any of the three men would have a chance to apply for eventual parole.
The McMichaels were each given 20 additional years in prison on top of their life sentences — without parole.
Bryan was sentenced to life in prison but was given the option of parole after serving 30 years.
In announcing his decision, the judge said the sentencing serves to hold the defendants "accountable."
"It was a killing — and it was callous," he said, adding that Arbery's death happened because "confrontation was being sought" by the defendants.
The lead prosecutor in the case, Linda Dunikoski, had earlier asked the judge to only extend the option for parole to Bryan. She said the McMichaels had shown no remorse for the killing and that the two had "a demonstrated pattern of vigilantism."
What did Arbery's family say?
Speaking in court ahead of the sentencing on Friday, Arbery's parents and sister urged for the maximum sentence, arguing that racial stereotypes led the defendants to chase and kill Arbery.
"This wasn't a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact. They chose to target my son because they didn't want him in their community. They chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community,'' said Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones.
"And when they couldn't sufficiently scare or intimidate him, they killed him.''
His father, Marcus Arbery, told the court that his son was killed while doing the thing he loved most — going for a run.
"The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father. I'll never get that chance, to sit next to my son, ever again," Arbery said, referencing the McMichaels.
His sister, Jasmine Arbery, celebrated her brother's life as a Black man.
"He had dark skin that glistened in the sunlight like gold. He had curly hair; he would often like to twist it. He had a broad nose and the color of his eyes was filled with melanin," she said. "These are the qualities that made these men assume Ahmaud was a dangerous criminal. To me, those qualities reflected a young man full of life and energy who looked like me and the people I love."
What happened to Arbery?
On February 23, 2020, Arbery went for a run in a neighborhood outside the Georgian city of Brunswick.
After the McMichaels saw the 25-year-old jogging, they grabbed their guns and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue him. Their neighbor Bryan joined the chase in his own truck — and filmed the ensuing shooting on his cellphone.
Travis McMichael fired on Arbery with a shotgun from close range after Arbery attempted to defend himself.
The graphic video of the shooting of Arbery went viral on social media following his murder.
It took police more than two months after the murder to arrest the McMichaels and Bryan, fueling outcry across the country and prompting Arbery's lawyers to say the 25-year-old had been racially profiled.
Three months after the murder of Arbery, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, was murdered by a white police officer in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, sparking nationwide Black Lives Matters protests against widespread racial injustice and police violence against African-Americans.
rs/sms (AP, Reuters)