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Ahmaud Arbery killer could face life in prison for hate crime

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Reuters

BRUNSWICK — Ahmaud Arbery families began asking federal judges Monday to sentence three white men convicted of hunting down and killing a young black man while jogging in a suburban Georgia community in 2020 to life in prison. I was.

Return - of the coastal city of Brunswick to Travis McMichael (36), his father Gregory McMichael (66), and their neighbor William "Lody" Bryan (52) Travis McMichael, a white former U.S. Coast Guard mechanic who fired the fatal shot, was first sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godby Wood

At the first hearing, Marcus Arbery, the father of the murdered man, told a judge that young McMichael had federal charges against him.

"These three demons shattered my heart into pieces that could never be found or repaired," Marcus Arbery said in court. said. "You hate black people."

Travis his McMichael turned down an opportunity to testify on Monday, but his lawyers said prisons in Georgia were too dangerous for him and killed him. said he had been threatened by

Three men attacked Arbery for his race and attempted kidnapping, and he was convicted in February of a civil rights hate crime.

The two were convicted last November of murder, aggravated assault, wrongful imprisonment and felony charges while Arbery was driving through the neighborhood at Satira Shores near Brunswick. A jury dismissing a claim of self-defense.

They appealed the state's conviction.

Arbery's case is his one in a string of black killings in recent years that have brought attention to issues of racism in the U.S. criminal justice system and law enforcement. It also highlighted the wider issue of gun violence in the United States.

During the hate crime trial, the McMichaels were also convicted of federal firearms charges. The felony hate crime was the most serious charge the defendant faced, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

In the hate crime case, McMichaels agreed to plead guilty and his son admitted in court that he chose Arbery because of his "race and color." Officials will hold her to a 30-year sentence serving federal prison before the man is returned to Georgia's prison system, which is considered a harsher environment for inmates compared to federal prisons. , rejected the plea bargain. The plea bargain was subsequently withdrawn.

In court documents, Gregory McMichaels is seeking to serve her 20 years in federal prison.

Gregory McMichael is a former Glynn County Police Officer who later worked for the local Attorney General's Office. Roddy Bryan worked as a mechanic.

Arbery was jogging through his Shores neighborhood on a leafy Satira afternoon in February 2020 when McMichaels picked up a gun and jumped into his pickup truck to give chase. Did. Their neighbor Brian joined the chase in his own pickup truck and pulled out his cell phone to record Travis McMichael firing a shotgun at Arbery at close range. Arbery had nothing but her running clothes and sneakers.

A video of the incident emerged months later.

Mr. and Mrs. McMichaels spoke of a series of neighborhood break-ins and said they believed Arbery had been made suspicious. He said his client had participated in the chase, assuming that he had done so.

Prosecutors presented testimony from 20 witnesses and other evidence that the three men had a long history of making racist slurs and statements.

(Reporting by Rich McKay, Brunswick, Georgia; Additional reporting by Jonathan Allen, New York; Editing by Donna Bryson and Howard Goller)