A Georgia court sentenced three white men to life in prison on Friday for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was killed while jogging in a mostly white neighborhood in the southern US state.
The case took place in February 2020. Arbery, 25, was unarmed and was killed by a shotgun blast fired by a resident, who was chasing him along with his father and a neighbor.
Gregory McMichael, 65, his son Travis McMichael, 35, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, were sentenced – unlike the former two, he can apply for parole after 30 years, the minimum sentence for murder under US law. State.
At the sentencing hearing, Arbery’s family said the 25-year-old was killed because he was black.
“He had dark skin, which shone like gold in the sun. He had curly hair, which he liked to braid. He had a wide nose and the color of his eyes was full of melanin,” said Jasmine Arbery, the victim’s sister. “These are the qualities that made these men assume Ahmaud was a dangerous criminal. To me, those qualities reflected a young man full of life and energy who resembled me and the people I love.”
The defense said it will appeal.
The murder intensified national protests against racism and police violence last year after a video of the shooting, recorded with a cellphone, was circulated. There was no doubt that Travis McMichael had shot Arbery three times at close range.
Lawyers for the McMichaels argued that the murder was justified because it took place after Arbery ran past the family’s garage, in a neighborhood that had seen a wave of recent burglaries. Father and son grabbed their guns and chased Arbery in a pickup truck. Bryan, unarmed, joined the two moments later.
The defendants said they thought Arbery might be behind the robberies. However, no evidence emerged of crimes committed by the victim during her frequent runs around the neighborhood.
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