Ahmaud Arbery: Family rejects plea deal where three murderers would be sentenced to 30 years in federal prison

Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan are facing a separate federal hate crimes trial

The family of Ahmaud Arbery rejected an 11th-hour plea deal for the three men who murdered the Black man in Georgia in February 2020 which would have sentenced them to 30 years in federal prison on hate crimes charges.

Attorney Lee Merritt said Mr Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones had been approached by the Department of Justice about the plea deal earlier this week.

The deal would have sentenced the three murderers – Travis McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. – to 30 years in federal prison.

“She rejected that offer because we believe that today the state will move forward with life sentences without the possibility of parole, and we think that’s the appropriate sentence,” Mr Merritt told CNN on Friday morning.

The offer came ahead of Friday’s sentencing for the three men on state charges, after they were each found guilty of murder back in November.

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Travis and Gregory McMichael were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Bryan was sentenced to life with parole after Judge Timothy Walmsley said he believes he “stands in very different shoes” to the McMichaels.

All three faced mandatory minimum sentences of life in prison for their murder charges but the judge decided whether they were granted the possibility of parole or whether they must die behind bars.

Even with the possibility of parole, Bryan will not be eligible for release for at least 30 years due to Georgia law. He will be 82 years old.

Murder is also punishable by the death penalty in Georgia, but prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty in this case.

The killers face a separate federal trial, set to begin in February, on hate crime charges which accuse the three men of using force to intimidate and interfere with Mr Arbery’s rights because of his race.

They face life in prison on these federal charges.

During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Mr Arbery’s family members called for the three killers to spend the rest of their lives behind bars as they gave emotional victim impact statements.

Ms Cooper-Jones said the three men murdered her son “because they didn’t want him in their community”.

“These men have chose to lie and attack my son and his surviving family, they each have no remorse and don’t deserve any leniency,” she said.

“This wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. They chose to target my son because they didn’t want him in their community... and when they couldn’t sufficiently scare him or intimidate him they killed him.”

Mr Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery described how he had watched the father and son duo Travis and Gregory McMichael sitting together in the courtroom throughout the trial, while he will never sit with his son again.

“The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father,” he said.

“I’ll never get that chance of sitting next to my son ever again, not at the dinner table, not at the holidays and not anywhere.”

Ahmaud Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones wipes a tear from her eyes while listening to her daughter’s impact statement in court on Friday (AP)

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence both Travis and Gregory McMichael to life without parole but for Bryan to be sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

The three men chased Mr Arbery, who was unarmed, through the Satilla Shores neighbourhood in their pickup trucks before shooting him dead in the road back on 23 February 2020.

Footage of the attack, filmed by Mr Bryan on his smartphone, sent shockwaves around the world and reignited calls for racial justice following the murder of George Floyd.

All three men were charged with nine counts, including one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Travis McMichael was convicted of all nine charges, Gregory McMichael of eight charges, excluding the count of malice murder, and Bryan of six charges – three counts of felony murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.