The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on August 08, 2022, 04:17:52 pm
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August 8, 2022 11:30am EDT
Travis McMichael, gunman convicted in Ahmaud Arbery killing, gets life in prison for hate crime charges
Travis McMichael, who killed Arbery with a shotgun after the street chase initiated by his father and joined by a neighbor, was the first of the three defendants to be sentenced on Monday
By Stephanie Pagones | Fox News
The first of three White men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood in 2020 was sentenced Monday to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime – just months after he and the other defendants received life in prison for state murder charges.
Travis McMichael, who killed Arbery with a shotgun after the street chase initiated by his father and joined by a neighbor, was the first of the three defendants to be sentenced on Monday, when he was ordered to spend life in prison. U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood scheduled back-to-back hearings to individually sentence each of the defendants. Hearings for Travis’ father, Greg McMichael, and neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, followed.
Arbery's killing on Feb. 23, 2020, became part of a larger national reckoning over racial injustice and killings of unarmed Black people including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky. Those two cases also resulted in the Justice Department bringing federal charges.
more
https://www.foxnews.com/us/travis-mcmichael-gunman-convicted-ahmaud-arbery-killing-gets-life-prison-hate-crime-charges
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Ignoring the silliness of "Hate Crime" BS, it's a well-deserved sentence, for all concerned, if there is no chance of parole.
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Father, son get life for hate crime in Ahmaud Arbery’s death
by RUSS BYNUM, Associated Press - 08/08/22 1:27 AM ET
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The white father and son who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood each received a second life prison sentence Monday — for committing federal hate crimes, months after getting their first for murder — at a hearing that brought a close to more than two years of criminal proceedings.
U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood handed down the sentences against Travis McMichael, 36, and his father, Greg McMichael, 66, reiterating the gravity of the February 2020 killing that shattered their Brunswick community. William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, who recorded cellphone video of the slaying, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
“A young man is dead. Ahmaud Arbery will be forever 25. And what happened, a jury found, happened because he’s Black,” Wood said.
The McMichaels were previously sentenced to life without parole in state court for Arbery’s murder and had asked the judge to divert them to a federal prison to serve their sentences, saying they were worried about their safety in the state prison system. Bryan had sought to serve his federal sentence first. Wood declined all three requests.
The sentences imposed Monday brought an end to the second trial against the men responsible for Arbery’s slaying, which along with the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky fueled a wave of protests across the country against the killings of unarmed Black people.
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.
The McMichaels armed themselves with guns and used a pickup truck to chase Arbery after he ran past their home on Feb. 23, 2020. Bryan, a neighbor, joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun. The McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a burglar, but investigators determined he was unarmed and had committed no crimes.
“I’m very thankful,” Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told reporters outside the courthouse after all three sentences had been imposed. “It’s been a long fight. I’m so thankful God gave us the strength to continue to fight.”
The hearings marked the first time the men involved in the deadly chase expressed any remorse to Arbery’s family. Only Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shots, chose to remain silent when given a chance to speak in court.
Greg McMichael told Arbery’s family their loss was “beyond description.”
“I’m sure my words mean very little to you, but I want to assure you I never wanted any of this to happen,” he said. “There was no malice in my heart or my son’s heart that day.”
Bryan said he was sorry.
“I never intended any harm to him, and I never would have played any role in what happened if I knew then what I know now,” Bryan said.
In giving Bryan a lower sentence, Wood noted he had not brought a gun to the pursuit of Arbery and preserved his cellphone video, which was crucial to the prosecutions.
Travis McMichael’s attorney, Amy Lee Copeland, said a lighter sentence would be more consistent with what similarly charged defendants have received in other cases, noting that the officer who killed Floyd in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin, got 21 years in prison for violating Floyd’s civil rights, though he was not charged with targeting Floyd because of his race.
Greg McMichael’s attorney, A.J. Balbo, also cited the Chauvin sentence as well as his client’s age and health problems, which he said include a stroke and depression.
During the February hate crimes trial, prosecutors fortified their case that Arbery’s killing was motivated by racism by showing the jury roughly two dozen text messages and social media posts in which Travis McMichael and Bryan used racist slurs and made disparaging comments about Black people.
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-u-s-news/men-face-sentencing-for-hate-crimes-in-ahmaud-arberys-death/
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Ignoring the silliness of "Hate Crime" BS, it's a well-deserved sentence, for all concerned, if there is no chance of parole.
You can still find on a number of "conservative" websites people who believe the white idiots were railroaded and "simply defending themselves" which says a lot more about them than it does the McMichaels.
They actually chased down guy who was simply running down the street, forcibly stopped him, pointed a loaded gun at him, and then claimed self defense when Arbery tried to take the shotgun away?
To believe the McMichaels acted in self-defense takes a hatred of blacks to another degree.
If they can't see that this is a clear case of white people doing wrong to a black person, they will never understand the ability to make a fair judgement.
There ARE times when the white person(s) is guilty in an interracial incident. This was one of those rare times.
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Ignoring the silliness of "Hate Crime" BS, it's a well-deserved sentence, for all concerned, if there is no chance of parole.
I'll add I think "hate" crimes are clearly unconstitutional. A crime is a crime. If you murder somebody, it's sort of understood that you probably didn't like them very much.
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Ignoring the silliness of "Hate Crime" BS, it's a well-deserved sentence, for all concerned, if there is no chance of parole.
No, it's a bullshit sentence for a thought crime. It flies in the face of everything our Constitution stands for. McMichael has already been sentenced to life + 20. This additional sentence is an undeserved travesty.
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I'll add I think "hate" crimes are clearly unconstitutional. A crime is a crime. If you murder somebody, it's sort of understood that you probably didn't like them very much.
Just my opinion, and I reserve the right to be wrong. I think "Hate Crime" stuff is to assuage liberal white guilt.
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Just my opinion, and I reserve the right to be wrong. I think "Hate Crime" stuff is to assuage liberal white guilt.
It is also to rid our judicial system of equal protection. I have yet to see anyone of a protected class being convicted of a hate (thought) crime.
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I commit a "hate crime" when I munch on kale. It injures the kale, and I hate kale. ****drummer
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Ignoring the silliness of "Hate Crime" BS, it's a well-deserved sentence, for all concerned, if there is no chance of parole.
Yeah, the 'hate crime' thing is pretty stupid. Aside from that, i don't know how it works in Georgia or for federal crimes, but I do know that in Kentucky even if you sentence someone to life without parole, EVERYONE still gets a chance at parole after 20 years served. The judge for the trial I sat on the jury told us that the parole board would take into account what the jurors wanted when they agreed to the sentence, but there was no guarantee that parole would not be granted.
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@Polly Ticks
McMichael was sentenced to life + 20 in Georgia State Court. He will never spend a day inside a federal prison.
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@Polly Ticks
McMichael was sentenced to life + 20 in Georgia State Court. He will never spend a day inside a federal prison.
As long as he doesn't spend a day outside of one prison or another, I'm happy.
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As long as he doesn't spend a day outside of one prison or another, I'm happy.
After he is done serving his life sentence, then and only then can we talk about when he can earn parole on the 20-year sentence.
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After he is done serving his life sentence, then and only then can we talk about when he can earn parole on the 20-year sentence.
Good deal. I wish it worked that way in Kentucky, too. Life without parole should mean life without parole, not 20 years and then we'll see.