Article Author:
Associated Press
Russ Bynum
Savannah, GA (AP) — Tracked down and killed Ahmaud Arbery months after being sentenced to life in prison for murder Three white men faced second criminal charges Monday for federal hate crimes committed in the deadly pursuit of a 25-year-old black man in his Georgia neighborhood.
U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godby Wood sentenced each defendant individually, starting with Travis McMichael, who blew up Arbery with a shotgun after a street chase initiated by her father. A series of public hearings were scheduled to be held. her neighbor.
The murder of Arbery on February 23, 2020 was linked to racial injustice and the murder of unarmed black people, including his Floyd of George in Minneapolis and his Taylor of Breonna in Kentucky. became part of a larger national calculation of Those two of his cases also resulted in the Department of Justice filing charges with the federal government.
When returned to court in Georgia on Monday, McMichael, his father Greg McMichael, and neighbor William "Rodi" Bryan were found guilty of federal hate crimes in February. and faces the possibility of life imprisonment. targeted him because of his race. All three faces were found guilty of attempted kidnapping, and McMichaels faces additional penalties for committing a violent crime using a firearm.
The punishment they received in federal court could ultimately be more symbolic than anything else. A state superior court judge sentenced all three of his men in Arbery's murder to life in prison in January, and McMichael both denied the possibility of parole.
All three defendants remain imprisoned in coastal Glynn County in U.S. Marshal custody pending sentencing after federal convictions in January. is.
Because they were first indicted in state court and convicted of murder, the protocol ordered them to be turned over to the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve life in state prison.
In court filings last week, Travis and Greg McMichael asked the judge to convert them to federal prisons instead, saying they were not safe in Georgia's prison system, which is subject to the U.S. Department of Justice. I said no. A study focused on violence among inmates.
Arbery's family argues that federal prisons are not so harsh and that the McMichaels and Brian should serve time in state prison. Before the federal trial, the McMichaels' parents strongly objected when they sought a plea bargain that included a request to transfer them to federal prison.
According to Ed Tarver, an attorney in Augusta and former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, federal court judges have the ability to grant legal custody of inmates to the Federal Prison Service. It has no power to order states to waive. He said a judge could require the state Department of Corrections to extradite a defendant to federal prison.
After spotting Arbery walking past his home outside the port city of Brunswick on Sunday, he armed himself with a gun and jumped into a truck to pursue Arbery. Brian joined the chase. In his own truck, he helped cut off Arbery's escape. He also recorded cell phone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range as Arbery threw a punch and grabbed a shotgun.
The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery had stolen from a house under construction nearby. But authorities later concluded that he was unarmed and did not commit a crime.Arbery's family has long claimed he was just jogging.
Yet more than two months passed before he was charged with Arbery's death. McMichaels and Brian were arrested after graphic video of the shooting was leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police.
During a hate crime trial in February, prosecutors showed jurors about 20 text messages and social media posts used by Travis McMichael and Brian that Arbery's murder was motivated by racism. reinforced their claims. Racists made slanderous and derogatory comments about black people. One woman testified that she heard her angry rant from Greg McMichael in 2015.
Attorneys for the three defendants acted on serious suspicion that Arbery had committed a crime in the neighborhood, rather than McMichaels and Brian pursuing Arbery because of his race.