Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, received a second life sentence for federal hate crimes in addition to their previous life sentences for murder in the state in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbury in Georgia.
The life sentences were handed down Monday in federal court. They were sentenced in state court last November without the possibility of parole.
The McMichaels, aged 36 and 66, are two of three men convicted of murdering Arbury on February 23, 2020. Neighbor William “Roddy” Bryan, 52, was sentenced to 35 years for his role at his own hearing on Monday .
U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood denied Travis McMichael’s request to be sent to federal custody because of safety concerns that other inmates could carry out a “back-to-back death sentence” in state custody, Law & Crime reported.
“I deny that motion and instead turn to the applicable rules,” Judge Wood said, citing that the state of Georgia was the first to indict, try, convict and sentence Travis McMichael.
Judge Wood said he recalled the footage of the younger McMichael shooting Mr Arbury with a shotgun as he sentenced the 36-year-old.
“You acted because of the color of Mr. Arbury’s skin,” she said, according to Reuters.
Arbury, a black man, was out jogging at Satilla Shores near Brunswick on the southeast Georgia coast when he was chased by McMichaels and Bryan more than two years ago. The chase ended with Travis McMichael shooting Arbury dead in the street while Bryan filmed a video that sparked international outrage.
At trial, all three defendants said they believed Arbury was behind a string of burglaries in the neighborhood, but the evidence revealed only that he entered a construction site to look around.
A recently painted mural by Ahmoud Arbery is displayed in Brunswick, Georgia on May 17, 2020.
(Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
The three men were convicted of Arberry’s murder by a Georgia state jury. Bryan is the only one eligible for parole after 30 years because his role in the killing was considered more limited, according to a state judge.
The three men were then found to have violated Arberry’s rights “because of his race and color,” after a federal jury heard racist comments they made, according to Law & Crime.
This photo shows, left to right, Travis McMichael, William “Roddy” Bryan and Gregory McMichael during their trial at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia.
(AP)
Arberry’s family objected before the ensuing federal trial to a plea deal in which the men would partially serve their sentences in federal custody, urging the court to keep them in state custody.
“These three devils have broken my heart into pieces that cannot be found or mended,” father Marcus Arbury said in the courtroom.
“You hate black people,” he told Travis McMichael, Reuters reported.
“Your honor, I feel every shot that was fired every day,” mother Wanda Cooper-Jones told the judge. “Every morning I wake up and tell myself it’s another day without my Quez.”
“I struggled to understand that a father could actually accompany his son to take a life,” she said during Gregory McMichael’s sentencing hearing, according to the news agency.
Uncle Gary Arbury told the court the three men were “still trying to beat the system”.
“We miss everything about you. I pray you rest in peace my sweet boy,” Aunt Diane Arbury added. “You are free to run where you choose to run in heaven my sweet boy.”
McMichaels and Bryan were sentenced to life in prison on state murder charges last November and convicted in federal court in February of this year of violating Arbury’s right to use a public street because of his race.
A federal jury also found the three men guilty of attempted kidnapping, and the two McMichaels were found guilty of violating gun laws, according to The Washington Post.
Travis McMichael’s attorney, Amy Lee Copeland, told the court Monday that the 36-year-old has been the subject of hundreds of threats and could be harmed if sent to state custody.
“I am concerned that my client is facing an effective backdoor death penalty,” she said.
“I understand the rich irony, Judge, of expressing that my client will face justice alone,” she added.
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