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August 17, 2022
Men Sentenced in Racist Hate Crime
A crowd gathers under a new sign designating a city roadway as
Honorary Ahmaud Arbery Street (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
Justice finally
for Ahmaud
Arbery
(AP) — The white father and
son who chased and killed Ah-
maud Arbery in a Georgia neigh-
borhood each received a second
life prison sentence for commit-
ting federal hate crimes, months
after getting their first for mur-
der 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 McMi-
chael, 36, and his father, Greg Mc-
Michael, 66, reiterating the gravity
of the February 2020 killing that
shattered their Brunswick com-
munity. William “Roddie” Bryan,
52, who recorded cellphone video
of the slaying, was sentenced to 35
years in prison.
“A young man is dead. Ah-
maud Arbery will be forever
25. And what happened, a jury
found, happened because he’s
Black,” Wood said.
The McMichaels were previ-
ously 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
Wanda Cooper Jones, the mother of Ahmaud Arbery, is held by her attorney, Lee Merritt, while
addressing supporters gathered for the unveiling of new street signs honoring Arbery (AP Photo/Russ
Bynum)
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 Mon-
day brought an end to the second
trial against the men responsible
for Arbery’s slaying, which along
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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.
Arbery’s parents joined the
celebration the day after the men
responsible for their son’s death
received harsh prison sentences in
U.S. District Court for committing
federal hate crimes.
Officials in coastal Brunswick,
where Arbery grew up, have or-
dered that intersections along all
2.7 miles of Albany Street that
runs through the heart of the city’s
Black community will have addi-
tional signs designating it as Hon-
orary Ahmaud Arbery Street.