Federal Sentencing For Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers Delayed Until August
The sentencing hearing for the Ahmaud Arbery’s killers has been postponed until August 8.
According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood signed off on the delay of the hearing after prosecutors cited a scheduling conflict.
Son and father Travis and Greg McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan each have the possibility of a life sentence after their conviction for their racially-motivated hate crimes in February. A federal jury determined that the three white men chased and killed Arbery, 25 because he was Black in February 2020 incident.
The McMichaels, who maintained that Arbury was a burglar, gathered their firearms and loaded themselves onto their pickup truck to chase him down Arbery. However, he was simply jogging through their neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia. Bryan joined in on the action in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery with a shotgun.
More than two months had gone by before the three men were arrested. A horrific video of the shooting leaked on the net and the local police handed over the case to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
The three men were convicted on state charges in November 2021 for Arbery’s murder and senetenced in January to life in prison. During the federal trial, prosecutors convinced jurors that the men had a history of racial language toward Black people.
A series of text messages and social media posts created a focus on the three mens’ use of racial language.
They were found guilty of their hate crimes on February 22.
On March 8, the McMichaels sought acquittal, claiming that federal prosecutors failed to prove their case, including an argument that Arbery’s death didn’t happen on a public street in their Brunswick, Ga., neighborhood.
Travis McMichael’s attorney argued in his appeal document that the government failed to show that Arbery was jogging on a public street.
Gregory McMichael’s lawyer made the same argument and claimed the prosecutor failed to prove that he targeted Arbery over his race.
