Three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery sentenced to life in prison

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan were convicted of murder in the death of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man.

• A judge sentenced the three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery to life in prison, two of them without parole.
• A jury previously found Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Bryan guilty of murder.
• Arbery's family members also gave emotional victim impact statements.

A Georgia judge on Friday sentenced Ahmaud Arbery's three killers to life in prison, two of them without the possibility of parole.

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan, who are all white, were each found guilty of murder in November for the shooting death of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man.

Glynn County Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced father and son Gregory McMichael and Travis McMichael to life in prison plus twenty years, without the possibility of parole. Walmsley sentenced Bryan, who he said had shown some remose for the crime, to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The judge called Arbery's murder "a tragedy on many many levels," saying that Arbery left his home "to go for a run and he ended up running for his life." Walmsley asked the court to sit in silence for one minute to demonstrate "a fraction of the time" that the McMichaels and Bryan chased Arbery down the street — in reality, more than five minutes — before Travis McMichael shot him. 

The McMichaels had trailed Arbery in a pickup truck as he jogged through their Satilla Shores neighborhood on February 23, 2020, later saying they believed he was responsible for a recent surge in burglaries in the area. Travis McMichael eventually confronted Arbery in the street and shot him at point-blank range with a shotgun. Bryan followed behind the McMichaels in a different vehicle, and filmed the chase and the shooting with his cellphone.

The three men faced nine individual charges for the killing, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment. A jury found Travis McMichael guilty on all counts, while his father was convicted on all counts except malice murder. Bryan was acquitted of one count of malice murder, one count of felony murder, and one count of aggravated assault.

Walmsley said the defendants' own words guided his sentencing. Travis McMichael grabbed his shotgun because "he assumes it's the right thing to do" after his father told him that he "had no choice," the judge said.

The judge also thought Gregory McMichael tried to "establish a narrative early on" by making several comments about Arbery going into a house in the neighborhood. Walmsley said McMichael "effectively admitted" that he didn't know if Arbery had done anything wrong when he told police that he didn't think Arbery had stolen anything, but "keeps going back over and over again into this damn house." 

"It's interesting, because he talks about his concern for his child and his own well-being, and part of this was while the victim was actually laying there in the street," the judge said.

Walmsley also noted that video of the shooting shows the McMichaels turn their backs after Arbery falls to the ground.

"It's a disturbing image and they walked away," the judge said. "This was a killing. It was callous."

Bryan "stands in very different shoes" in terms of showing remorse for the crime, according to the judge. Police body camera footage showed what Walmsley thought was Bryan showing "concerns that what occurred shouldn't have occurred." 

Arbery's family members also gave victim impact statements before Walmsley sentenced the defendants. His father, Marcus Arbery, said he sees what he described as his son's "execution" over and over in his mind when he closes his eyes.

"Not only did they lynch my son, they killed him while he was doing what he loved the most, running," Arbery said.

Arbery's mother, Wanda-Cooper Jones, started her impact statement by speaking "directly" to her son. She told the court that she "promised" Ahmaud when she buried him that "some day, somehow I would get you justice."

Attorneys for Arbery's killers have said they plan to appeal their convictions. All three men also face trial on federal hate crimes. 

Earlier Friday, Cooper-Jones told "CBS This Morning" that she rejected a plea deal for the McMichaels and Bryan on federal hate crimes charges when approached by prosectors.