WAYNESBORO, GA – FEBRUARY 23: A painting of Ahmaud Arbery is displayed during a vigil at New Springfield Baptist Church on February 23, 2021 in Waynesboro, Georgia. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 3:20 PM PT – Monday, August 8, 2022
A district court judge in Georgia handed down a second life sentence for one of three men convicted in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Travis McMichael was sentenced to life in prison plus 10 years on Monday, for committing federal hate crimes.
BREAKING: Travis McMichael gets life in prison on federal hate crimes charges for killing Ahmaud Arbery. #Georgia #AhmaudArbery
— Matt McClure (@mattjmcclure) August 8, 2022
This comes months after McMichael and two other defendants, including his father and neighbor were sentenced to life for state murder charges. McMichael shot Arbery after he joined his father and a neighbor in chasing Arbery down in a runswick neighborhood. They claimed Arbery was stealing from a nearby home, but investigators found the 25-year-old did not commit any crime.
“A young man is dead. Ahmaud Arbery will be forever 25 and what happened, a jury found happened because he’s Black,” said US District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood.
In February, a federal jury convicted the McMichaels and Bryan of violating Arbery’s civil rights, concluding they targeted him because of his race. All three were also found guilty of attempted kidnapping, and the McMichaels were convicted of using guns in the commission of a violent crime.
BREAKING: William “Roddie” Bryan has been sentenced to 35 years in prison on federal hate crime convictions in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. pic.twitter.com/cpmwDBI1Tj
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 8, 2022
BREAKING: Travis McMichael has been sentenced to life in prison with an additional 10 years on federal hate crime convictions in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. pic.twitter.com/LBAGSFe8Fq
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 8, 2022
BREAKING: Gregory McMichael has been sentenced to life in prison with an additional 7 years on federal hate crime convictions in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. pic.twitter.com/Lxulvivd9u
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 8, 2022
In court filings last week, both Travis and Greg McMichael asked to serve their time in federal prison, saying they won’t be safe in a Georgia prison system that’s the subject of a US Justice Department investigation focused on violence between inmates.
Wood said she didn’t have the authority to order the state to relinquish custody of Travis McMichael to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, but also wasn’t inclined to do so in his case. She also declined to keep Greg McMichael in federal custody.
The other defendants will be sentenced on Monday.