Three white Americans were sentenced to life in prison today for stalking and killing an African-American jogger in Georgia in February 2020 because they said he was suspected of burglary.
Travis McMichael, 35, the man who pulled the trigger, and his father, Gregory, 66, were sentenced to life without parole. Their neighbor, William Brian, 52, who participated in the pursuit and videotaped the murder, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of suspending his sentence after serving 30 years in prison.
Announcing his verdict, Judge Timothy Wolsley said that the fact that he imposed the most severe punishment allowed by law on McMichael was due in part to their "inhumane" statements and actions recorded in the video.
"It was a creepy, really scary scene," he said, referring to the video showing young McMichael picking up his gun and aiming at 25-year-old Amont Arbery, who was just 10 meters away. Arbery "was chased and shot and killed because some people in this room took the law into their own hands," he added.
Earlier, relatives of Arber, speaking in court, said racist stereotypes were what led to the 25-year-old's murder. Defense attorneys asked for the court's leniency, arguing that none of the three defendants sought to kill Amont Arbery.
The lawyers of the three defendants said they would appeal the sentence. "His goal was not to commit a crime that day or kill anyone. "He wanted to spend an afternoon with his family," said Bob Rubin, Travis McMichael's lawyer.
None of the three convicts exercised their right to go to court today. All of them will be tried again in February, by a federal court this time, accused of hate crime.
Prosecutors said the three men "assumed the worst" when they saw a black man running in their neighborhood. Arbery was jogging in the Satila Sorce neighborhood on the afternoon of February 23, when McMichael grabbed their guns, got into their van and chased him. Travis McMichael, the only one of the three who testified at the trial, said he shot in self-defense.
"They chose to target my son because they did not want him in their community. "Because they could not intimidate or intimidate him, they killed him," Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, testified in court earlier.
Brian followed McMichael in his own van and videotaped Travis shooting the young man from close range. Arbery had absolutely nothing on him at the time other than the sportswear and shoes he was wearing.
The video caused outrage when it was released months later, and it became known that none of the three involved had been arrested after a local prosecutor found the murder justified.
Source: RES-EAP