A father and son convicted in the 2020 murder of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced Monday to life in prison on federal hate crime charges, while a neighbor who joined the chase got 35 years — terms piled atop their state court life terms.
Travis McMichael, 36, and his dad Greg McMichael, 66, were both convicted in federal court in February for violating 25-year-old Arbery’s civil rights, targeting him because of his race.
On Monday, Travis was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years; Greg got a life sentence. William “Roddie” Bryan, who filmed the shooting, was sentenced to 47 months.
Arbery was jogging through Satilla Shores, Ga., outside of Brunswick, on Feb. 23, 2020, when Travis and Greg McMichael and neighbor Bryan chased him through the streets in a pickup truck before Travis fatally shot him.
All three have already been sentenced to life in prison, with only Bryan eligible for parole.
U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said Monday they got a fair trial, “the kind of trial that Ahmaud Arbery did not receive before he was shot and killed.”
“You killed a man on Feb. 23, 2020,” she said to Travis. “The events depicted in the video, they are seared in the annals of this court and and no doubt in your mind forever.”
Bryan’s hearing began with his lawyer arguing for a lesser sentence than his co-defendants because, he said, race had not been a factor in his actions.
“Let no one think 420 months is a light sentence,” Wood told the 52-year-old Bryan, “because you do not deserve a light sentence. By the time you serve your federal sentence, you will be almost 90 years old. But of course Mr. Arbery never got to be 26.”
The three were convicted of interfering with Arbery’s rights and attempted kidnapping. Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shot, was also found guilty of using and carrying a Remington shotgun while his father was found guilty of using and carrying a .357 Magnum revolver.
The defense lawyers argued that Travis McMichael fired the gun in self-defense after Arbery tried to wrestle it away from him. Attorneys also claimed Arbery matched the description of someone who had been reported breaking into a home under construction.
Police later confirmed Arbery was unarmed and had committed no crimes before the trio got to him.
The brutal killing, caught on camera, has been likened to a modern-day lynching.
No arrests were made for months; police stepped in after the stunning video leaked online.
“Your honor, I feel every shot that was fired every day,” Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said Monday before the sentencing. “Every morning, I wake up and tell myself it’s another day without my (son).”
Travis McMichael’s attorney begged the judge to allow his client to serve his time in federal prison, citing the dangers of state prison and the death threats.
“I’m concerned that my client faces an effective back-door death penalty,” Amy Lee Copeland, Travis McMichael’s lawyer, said in court. “I understand the rich irony, judge, of expressing that my client will face vigilante justice himself.”
The judge said she was unable to even entertain the idea because McMichael had been convicted and sentenced in state court first.
Travis McMichael did not speak, but Greg McMichael apologized to Arbery’s family, as did Bryan.
“I understand that the loss that you’ve endured is beyond description,” Greg McMichael said in court . “I’m sure that my words mean very little to you, but I want to assure you that I didn’t want any of this to happen.”
