USA: Men sentenced to life imprisonment for murder of black man.
Judge called murder "terrifying"
Brazil Agency – A Georgia judge sentenced Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan to life in prison on Friday for what he called the "horrific" 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was jogging in a predominantly white neighborhood in the southern U.S. state.
The McMichaels, father and son, will spend the rest of their lives in prison, but Judge Timothy Walmsley ruled that Bryan may be eligible for parole after 30 years in prison, the minimum sentence allowed for murder under state law.
Walmsley said in a hearing at Glynn County Court in Brunswick that he gave the McMichaels the harshest sentence in part because of their "insensitive" words and actions captured on video.
"It was a frightening and truly disturbing scene," the judge said regarding part of a video of the murder in which McMichael begins to raise his weapon against Arbery, while the 25-year-old is about 6 meters away. He stated that Arbery was "hunted down, shot, and killed because the individuals here in this courtroom took justice into their own hands."
Previously, distraught relatives of Arbery argued in court that racial stereotypes led to the 25-year-old runner's death. Defense lawyers pleaded for leniency, saying that none of the three men ever intended for Arbery to be killed.
In November, a jury found Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and neighbor Bryan, 52, guilty of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal intent to commit a serious crime.
Defense lawyers said they will appeal the convictions. Bob Rubin, McMichael's lawyer, said that life without parole should be reserved only for "the worst of the worst."