Arbery’s killers scheduled for August hate crimes sentencing

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The white men convicted of hate crimes for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery as he ran in their Georgia neighborhood have been scheduled for sentencing this summer in federal court.

U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood scheduled Aug. 1 sentencing hearings for all three men. Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, each face a maximum penalty of life in prison in connection with the 2020 death of the 25-year-old Black man.

It’s possible the sentencing date could change. Citing a scheduling conflict, Prosecutors asked the judge in a legal filing Tuesday to push back the hearings until sometime after Aug. 6.

The McMichaels and Bryan are already serving life sentences in Georgia after being convicted of murder in a state court last fall. The trio stood trial a second time in federal court, where they were found guilty in February of committing hate crimes after a jury concluded Arbery’s killing was motivated by race.

The McMichaels armed themselves and used a pickup truck to chase Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, after spotting him running in their neighborhood just outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick. Bryan joined the pursuit and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun.

The McMichaels told investigators they suspected Arbery was a burglar and were trying to detain him for police. Travis McMichael said he opened fire in self-defense as Arbery threw punches and grabbed for his shotgun.

No arrests were made until more than two months after the killing, when the graphic cellphone video leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. Arbery’s death became part of a broader reckoning on racial injustice in the criminal legal system after a string of fatal encounters between Black people and police.

While the life sentences handed down in the state’s murder case made the hate crimes trial that followed largely symbolic, federal prosecutors used the second trial to reveal how all three defendants had espoused racist views.

To back the hate crime charges, prosecutors showed the jury roughly two dozen text messages and social media posts showing Travis McMichael and Bryan repeatedly using racial slurs in text messages and social media posts.

Defense attorneys contended the McMichaels and Bryan didn’t chase and kill Arbery because of his race, but acted on their earnest, though erroneous, suspicion that Arbery had committed crimes in their neighborhood.

News

Ward is Chaplain of the Day in the House of Representatives

News

Measure to confront mass shootings, bomb threats, other school mayhem beats a deadline in the Senate

News

ABAC’s Georgia Museum of Agriculture to host Folklife Festival April 5

News

Second tort reform
bill passes both houses

News

Georgia Peanut Commission approves funding for research projects

News

Georgia Senate backs IVF treatments

News

Edwards named the
District’s Chief Academic Officer

News

Colquitt Regional receives awards from the Georgia Hospital Association

News

Former state Rep. Penny Houston to be honored with Advocate of the Year Award at children’s hearing event

Columns

EDDIE SEAGLE: A major adaptive gardening decision

Columns

HARRY MARTINEZ: Conflict within, Part 2

News

Turner’s Fine Furniture celebrates 110 years in business

News

Lawmakers decide to ban cellphones in public elementary and middle schools

News

Colquitt Regional adding women’s health residency program

News

Thoron named dean of ABAC School of Agriculture & Natural Resources

News

PCOM South Georgia
to host GOMA District III
annual meeting

News

State Senate gives locals extra leeway on property tax relief

News

Tort reform bill passes with support of Cannon and Watson

News

Downtown veterans
banners are sold-out

News

Guild wins awards
at district meeting

News

Lawmakers hear praise, concerns about legislation to stop school shooters

News

Ameris Bank donates $500,000 to Colquitt Regional

News

Possession charges with intent to distribute follow routine traffic stop

News

City approves 2 zoning issues, to consider hospital request in April