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Posts tagged as “Gregory McMichael”

Ahmaud Arbery’s Three Murderers Sentenced to Life in Prison

Judge Timothy R. Walmsley sentenced father and son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. to life in prison for their felony murder of Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, GA in February 2020.

Bryan will be eligible for parole in 30 years; the McMichaels have no possibility for parole. As he sentenced the murderers, Judge Walmsley had the courtroom sit in silence for one minute to have everyone present get a feel for at least a fraction of the five minutes Arbery was chased and terrorized by his now-convicted killers.

(l to r) Travis McMichael, William “Roddie” Bryan, Jr. and Gregory McMichael

“When I thought about this, I thought from a lot of different angles,” Walmsley said, “and I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores.”

These thoughts were likely never far from Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones,  his father Marcus Arbery, or the rest of his family.

To quote nbcnews.com:

Arbery’s parents and sister, who spoke before the sentences were handed down, asked the judge to show no lenience.

“The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father. I’ll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again. Not at a general table. Not at a holiday. And not at a wedding,” Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, said before the sentence was announced.

“His killers should spend the rest of their lives thinking about what they did and what they took from us and they should do it behind bars because me and my family have to do it for the rest of their life.”

Attorneys for all three of Arbery’s murderers have said they intend to appeal the convictions.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/three-men-convicted-murdering-ahmaud-arbery-sentenced-life-prison-rcna10901

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/07/us/judge-timothy-walmsley-minute-of-silence-arbery/index.html

All Three Men Found Guilty of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery

The verdicts have just come in.

Jurors found Travis McMichael guilty of murder Wednesday for chasing and fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, as he jogged last year through a neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia.

Ahmaud Arbery

McMichael now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jurors convicted him of one count of malice murder and four counts of felony murder.

Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael’s father, has been found guilty of felony murder.  McMichael now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., one of three men, who filmed what they did to Arbery, has been found guilty of felony murder.

Bryan now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.  Jurors convicted him of felony murder but acquitted him of the malice murder charge.

Any other outcome would itself been criminal.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/ahmaud-arbery-killing-trial-verdict-watch-11-24-21/index.html

U.S. Department of Justice Charges Three Georgia Men Accused of Killing Ahmaud Arbery with Federal Hate Crimes

The U.S. Department of Justice, lead by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, today indicted three Georgia men Travis McMichael, 35; Travis’s father, Gregory McMichael, 65; and William “Roddie” Bryan, 51, via federal grand jury in the Southern District of Georgia and charged them with hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Ahmaud Arbery.

Each were charged with one count of interference with rights and with one count of attempted kidnapping. Travis and Gregory McMichael were also charged with one count each of using, carrying, and brandishing—and in Travis’s case, discharging—a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

All three defendants have also been charged in a separate state proceeding with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal attempt to commit a felony. No trial date has been set for the state case.

Counts One and Two of the new federal indictment allege that the defendants used force and threats of force with firearms to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.

Count One also alleges that the offense resulted in Arbery’s death. Count Two alleges that William “Roddie” Bryan joined the chase and used his truck to cut off Arbery’s route.

In addition to the hate-crime charges, Count Three alleges that all three defendants attempted to unlawfully seize and confine Arbery by chasing after him in their trucks in an attempt to restrain him, restrict his free movement, corral and detain him against his will, and prevent his escape.

Counts Four and Five allege that during the course of the crime of violence charged in Count One, Travis used, carried, brandished, and discharged a Remington shotgun, and Gregory used, carried, and brandished a .357 Magnum revolver.

The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, Acting U.S. Attorney David Estes of the Southern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in Charge J.C. Hacker of the FBI.

This case was investigated by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tara Lyons of the Southern District of Georgia, and Deputy Chief Bobbi Bernstein and Special Litigation Counsel Christopher J. Perras of the Civil Rights Division.