Two white men convicted on federal hate crimes charges were given life sentences Monday in Brunswick. Travis McMichael and Greg McMichael had been found guilty earlier this spring in the 2020 shooting death of 25-year-old Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery.
“You killed a man on Feb. 23, 2020,” U.S. District Judge Lisa G. Wood noted, noting that the video is seared into the court’s memory. “A jury found that you acted because of the color of Mr. Arbery’s skin.”
The McMichaels brought guns and used a pickup truck to chase Arbery after he ran through the Satilla Shores neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun as Arbery tried to get away from Travis McMichael.
Travis McMichael made no statement before his sentencing. His father, Greg McMichael, did. The elder McMichael, 66, apologized to Arbery’s family, his son and his wife.
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Attorneys for both men had requested they be held in federal prison instead of Georgia state prison, but the Wood told them that jurisdiction for their terms remains with the state since their were convicted for murder initially under Georgia law.
Bryan will be sentenced later today.
This story will be updated.
This article first appeared on The Current and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
