The white father and son convicted of murder in Ahmaud Arbery’s fatal shooting after they chased him through a Georgia neighborhood have been sentenced to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime. A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Travis McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, on Monday in Brunswick. Neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, who recorded cellphone video of the slaying, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan are already serving life sentences for their state murder convictions as they await federal sentencing.
The man who initiated the neighborhood chase that resulted in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery is asking a federal judge to show leniency when he's sentenced for a federal hate crime conviction. Greg McMichael's defense attorney says his client should be spared a life sentence, though he has already been sentenced to life without parole on a separate murder conviction.
For almost two years, as Brunswick and Glynn County came to grips with the racially motivated murder of Ahmaud Arbery, community organizations have been lobbying for removal of the stark reminder of Coastal Georgia’s legacy of white supremacy and slavery.
Georgia prosecutors say the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery was followed by 16 phone calls between the local district attorney and a former employee later convicted of murder in the shooting. Former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson was indicted last year on misconduct charges for her handling of Arbery's death.
A federal judge has postponed sentencing for the white men convicted of hate crimes in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery until Aug. 8. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan each face possible life sentences after being convicted of hate crimes in February.
Savannah State journalism professor Jason Miccolo Johnson and his students documented the demonstration outside the Glynn County Courthouse last November.
In a 20-page motion filed in Glynn County Superior Court on Wednesday, Jackie Johnson’s lawyers asked for the two charges brought by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr against her to be dropped, calling the accusations “wholly specious, unjust” and “an impermissible, politically motivated ‘hit job.'” It claims that within 3 hours of Ahmaud Arbery’s death that Glynn County police decided not to charge the men involved.
The Southern District of Georgia is one of just three federal court districts in the U.S. without a public defender. Sen. Jon Ossoff is seeking to change that.
Travis and Greg McMichael argue that they didn't violate Arbery's civil rights to use a public facility because the streets of Satilla Shores were not “provided or administered” by Glynn County.
The Black man who served as foreman of the jury that returned hate crime convictions against the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery says he believes the verdicts show no one is above the law.
A jury in Brunswick, Ga., found defendants Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan guilty of hate crimes in the 2020 shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.
This year's anniversary of Arbery's death comes one day after his three convicted killers, who are white, were found guilty of targeting Arbery because of his race in a federal hate crimes trial.
