Ahmaud Arbery’s killers sentenced to life without parole

The father and son who chased Ahmaud Arbery and shot him in February 2020 will die in prison after being sentenced to life without parole on Friday. 

Travis and Gregory McMichael were both sentenced to life without parole, while their neighbor William Roddie Bryan, 52, – who filmed the murder – will be eligible for parole. 

Judge Timothy R. Walmsley did not specify how long he would have to spend in prison – prosecutors asked that he spend at least 15 years behind bars. Typically, the minimum in Georgia is 30 years. 

In handing down his sentence, Judge Walmsley called the murder ‘chilling’ and ‘disturbing’. 

‘Taking the law into your own hands is a dangerous endeavor. Ultimately with regard to the murder of Ahmaud Arbery it holds us all accountable. At a minimum his death should force us to consider expanding our definition of what a neighbor may be and how we treat them. 

‘I believe that assuming the worst in others, we show our worst character. Assuming the best in others is always the best course of action. Maybe those are the grand lessons of this case.’ 

There were celebrations outside the court as the sentences were read aloud.  

Earlier, Arbery’s parents asked a judge to sentence his killers to life without parole on Friday at a courthouse in Georgia, saying they ‘lynched him in broad daylight’ and targeted him when he felt most ‘free and alive’. 

Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis, 35, and their neighbor William Roddie Bryan, 52, were all pictured arriving at court on Friday in Brunswick, Georgia. 

On February 23, 2020, they chased Arbery, a 26-year-old black man, through a street in Satilla Shores. They said they thought he was a burglar. Travis pulled the trigger, with his father nearby. Bryan filmed the entire incident on his phone. 

In November, they were all convicted of murder – which carries a mandatory life sentence. Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty. 

The only decision the judge will make on Friday is whether or not to grant any of them parole. If he does, the men will still have to serve some time behind bars before they are eligible to be considered for release. 

If not, all three men will die in prison. 

The minimum sentence that Travis McMichael faces is life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years. The minimum Gregory McMichael faces is life in prison with the possibility of parole after 35 years. Prosecutors are asking that William Roddy Bryan be given parole but it’s unclear after how long. 

His father Marcus spoke first, telling the court: ‘The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every day next to his father. I’ll never get the chance of sitting next to my son ever again. Not at a dinner table, not at a holiday, not at a wedding. I pray that no one in this courtroom has to do what we had – bury their child.’ 

Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper Jones, pleaded: ‘They were fully committed to their crimes – let them be fully committed for the consequences.’ 

She also referred to her son’s toenails on the day of the murder – something that was brought up during the trial in by a defense attorney who stoked outrage by referring to his ‘long, dirty toenails’. 

Wanda, on Friday, said: ‘I wish he would have cut and cleaned his toenails before he went out for his jog that day. I guess he would have if he knew he would be murdered.’  

She then pleaded with the judge: ‘Your honor, I am standing here before you today as the mother of Ahmaud Arbery asking you to please give all three defendants who are responsible for the death of my son, the maximum punishment which I do believe is life without bars without the possible chance for parole.’ 

The men’s lawyers are asking that they be granted parole after 30 years. Prosecutors have asked the judge not to grant any of the men parole. 

Cooper Jones spoke about Ahmaud as a ‘loving’ baby who ‘never seemed to tire of cuddles, hugs and kisses.’

His father Marcus told how he loved to run more than anything because it made him feel ‘free’. 

‘Not only did they lynch my son in broad daylight but they killed him when he was doing what he loved more than anything – running. 

‘That’s when he felt most alive. Most free. And they took all of that from him.

‘When I close my eyes, I see his execution over and over. I’ll see that for the rest of my life.  

‘When I became a father my life became bigger than me, it became bigger than me about my family, protecting him, protecting my boy. I know in my head that there is nothing I could have done that day to have saved my son. 

‘To save him from this evil and hate. My heart is broken and always will be.

‘If I could trade places with Ahmaud, I would in a heartbeat but I can’t’. I’m standing here to do what he can’t – that is to fight for him. His memory, his legacy and to tell you who he was. 

‘That’s the one thing you didn’t hear in this courtroom. More than anything else, you should know who my boy was.

‘We love our son and we will never have him with us to celebrate anything. Thanksgiving, Christmas…his birthday his killers should spend the rest of their lives thinking about what they took from us. 

‘It should be behind my bars.

‘Me and my family have got to live with this for the rest of our lives. They should stay behind those bars the rest of their lives. They didn’t give him a chance.’  

Ahmaud’s mother spoke directly to him, saying: ‘This verdict doesn’t bring you back. But it does help bring closure to this very difficult chapter of my life. 

‘I made a promise to you the day I laid you to rest. 

‘I told you I loved you and someday, somehow I would get you justice. 

‘Son, I love you as much today as the day you were born.

‘Raising you was the honor of my life and I am very proud of you.’ 

She said none of the killers showed remorse for their actions, and deserved to die in prison.  

‘They have no remorse and do not deserve leniency. 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. 

‘And when they couldn’t sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him.’  

‘Obviously we’re going to argue for life with the possibility of parole,’ said Frank Hogue, a lawyer for the elder McMichael. ‘Practically, that doesn’t mean much of a difference for a 65-year-old man.’

Arbery, a 25-year-old avid jogger, was running through the mostly white residential neighborhood of Satilla Shores on the afternoon of Feb. 23 when the McMichaels decided to grab their guns, jump in a pickup truck and give chase. 

The younger McMichael would later testify to the jury they had a hunch Arbery might be fleeing a crime.

Bryan joined the chase in his own pickup truck after it passed his driveway, and pulled out his cellphone to record Travis McMichael firing a shotgun at Arbery at close range. 

Arbery had nothing on him besides his running clothes and sneakers.

The video caused outrage when it emerged months later and it became clear that none of the men involved had yet been arrested after a local prosecutor concluded the killing was justified.

The three men will be allowed to address the court if they wish during Friday’s hearing, and prosecutors from the Cobb County district attorney’s office will be able to call on Arbery’s relatives to share victim impact statements. 

At a press conference before the hearing, attorney Ben Crump called the men a ‘lynch mob’ and said Arbery’s family did not want to see them ‘get a slap on the wrist’.  

Ahmaud’s mother Wanda Cooper Jones said: ‘Thank you all for standing with us to get justice for Ahmaud.  

‘The day has finally come that we will get justice. 

‘The day my family an I have prayed for… it has finally come.’ 

Defense attorneys then pleaded with the judge not to sentence the men to the harshest possible term. 

Gregory McMichael’s attorney, Laura Hogue, called him a ‘man of goodness’ and referred to the killing as a ‘five minute chase that ended in tragedy.’

‘Greg McMichael is a good man. He is not a perfect person but none of us are. 

‘The choices he made as a young man, all the way through to the rest of his life, to serve, not to acquire wealth, but to quietly go through the business of choosing career options to help other people. 

‘I say without hesitation he remains a man of goodness,’ she said. 

Source: Daily Mail