Death Penalty News

The three white men were found guilty of murdering the 25-year-old Black man after chasing him in their trucks through a Georgia neighborhood. ATLANTA (CN) — The 11th Circuit on Friday upheld the convictions of the three white men who murdered Ahmaud Arbery five years ago after chasing the 25-year-old Black man down the streets of a Georgia subdivision. In a split opinion, the circuit judges ruled that sufficient evidence supported their convictions.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) -- The white father and son who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery in a Georgia neighborhood each received a second life prison sentence Monday -- for committing federal hate crimes, months after getting their first for murder -- 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 McMichael, 36, and his father, Greg McMichael, 66, reiterating the gravity of the February 2020 killing that shattered their Brunswick community. William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, who recorded cellphone video of the slaying, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. "A young man is dead. Ahmaud Arbery will be forever 25. And what happened, a jury found, happened because he's Black," Wood said. The McMichaels were previously 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 serve their ...

All three men were found guilty of violating Arbery's civil rights by attacking him because of his race. The three white men convicted of chasing down and murdering a young Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, as he was out jogging in their suburban Georgia community, were found guilty on Tuesday of committing federal hate crimes and other offenses in the 2020 killing. A predominantly white jury deliberated for about four hours over two days before returning the verdict against Travis McMichael, 36, his father, former police officer Gregory McMichael, 66, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, in US District Court in Brunswick, Georgia. All three men were found guilty of violating Arbery's civil rights by attacking him because of his race, and of attempted kidnapping, capping the latest high-profile trial to probe issues of vigilantism and racial violence in America. The McMichaels were additionally convicted of a federal firearms charge. Bryan was not charged with a weapon...

Jan 31 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in Georgia rejected plea agreements reached between federal prosecutors and two of the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, saying she was not willing to be bound to the 30-year federal prison sentence set in the agreement. The unusual decision by U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood came after Travis McMichael, one of the three attackers due to face trial next week on federal hate-crime charges, admitted for the first time he had pursued the 25-year-old Black man because of his race. The decision means the parties must either return to court with a more acceptable deal when the hearing resumes on Friday morning or prepare next week for trial. McMichael had appeared in the U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, in an attempt to change his plea to guilty, admitting to a charge of using a gun in his attempt to apprehend Arbery because of his "race and color," resulting in Arbery's death. He fired at Arbery three times at close r...

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Three white men convicted of murder for chasing and killing Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced to life in prison Friday, with a judge denying any chance of parole for the father and son who armed themselves and initiated the deadly pursuit of the 25-year-old Black man. Murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison under Georgia law unless prosecutors seek the death penalty, which they opted against for Arbery’s fatal shooting. For Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley, the main decision was whether to grant Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, an eventual chance to earn parole. The judge ordered both McMichaels to serve life without parole. Bryan was granted a chance of parole but must first serve at least 30 years in prison. Walmsley said Arbery left his home for a jog and ended up running for his life for five minutes as the men chased him in pickup trucks until they finally cornered him. “Ahmaud Arbery was hunted down and sho...

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Three white men face sentencing by a judge Friday roughly six weeks after being convicted of murder for chasing a running Ahmaud Arbery in pickup trucks, cutting off the unarmed Black man’s escape and fatally blasting him with a shotgun. RELATED |  Georgia | Why a judge will sentence the men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbury instead of jury The guilty verdicts handed down the day before Thanksgiving prompted a victory celebration outside the Glynn County courthouse for those who saw Arbery’s death as part of a larger national reckoning on racial injustice. Testimony in court will likely be more sorrowful Friday, when members of Arbery’s family are expected to bare their grief and loss to the judge before he imposes punishments on father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan. Murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison under Georgia law unless prosecutors seek the death penalty, which they opted against for Arb...

Sentencing is scheduled for this Friday. ATLANTA — It was a Glynn County jury that listened to eight days of testimony before convicting three men of murdering Ahmaud Arbery , but a judge alone will be the one to sentence the them. The jury of nine women and three men deliberated 11 hours before rendering their guilty verdicts in November. Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Bryan all face life sentences. Now, a judge will decide if that sentence will be with or without the possibility of parole. The jury will have no say in the sentencing. “They may have thought they had some say in it, so they’re probably shocked as well that they have no say,” explained Criminal Defense Attorney Alicia Luncheon. Only a handful of states allow juries to sentence someone convicted of a crime. The exception is if the defendant is facing the death penalty, which is not the case for the men convicted of murdering Arbery. In any case, Luncheon said lawyers can’t discuss possible sentences in fro...

Gregory and Travis Michael and William “Roddie” Bryan scheduled to face state sentencing and federal trial GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. – The three men convicted in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder will face sentencing and a federal hate crimes trial in 2022. State sentencing and trial Father and son, Gregory and Travis McMichael, and William “Roddie” Bryan, were found guilty in November of felony murder and multiple other charges in the 25-year-old’s death. RELATED |  Ahmaud Arbery: Three US men guilty of murdering black jogger The most severe sentence they could receive is life in prison. Murder is punishable by death in Georgia, but prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty. Sentencing will be held at the Glynn County Courthouse on January 7 at 10 am. The hearing comes nearly two years after the McMichaels and Bryan chased Arbery through the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick on February 23, 2020.  After a struggle, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery. Ultimately, the Glynn Cou...

A judge in coastal Georgia has set a sentencing date early next year for the three men convicted of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- A judge in coastal Georgia has set a sentencing date early next year for the three men convicted of murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. RELATED |  Georgia | Ahmaud Arbery: Three US men guilty of murdering black jogger Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, are set to be sentenced Jan. 7, according to an order signed Monday by Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley. At the November trial, the three white men were convicted of murder and other crimes in the Feb. 23, 2020, killing of the 25-year-old Black man. The McMichaels armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a pickup truck after seeing him running in their neighborhood just outside the Georgia port city of Brunswick. Bryan hopped in his own truck and recorded video on his cellphone as he joined the pursuit, capturing the momen...

ATLANTA (AP) — The killing was captured on video and shared around the world: Ahmaud Arbery running toward and then around an idling pickup truck before its driver blasted him at close range with a shotgun. Soon after Travis McMichael fatally shot Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, his father, Greg McMichael, told police how the pair had armed themselves, chased the young Black man and trapped him “like a rat.” Neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan told officers he joined the pursuit and helped cut off Arbery’s escape. RELATED | Ahmaud Arbery: Three US men guilty of murdering black jogger After a 13-day trial at the Glynn County courthouse in coastal Georgia, a disproportionately white jury found the three white men guilty of murder.  Each man was also convicted on lesser charges. ON WHAT CHARGES WAS EACH MAN CONVICTED? A nine-count indictment charged all three men with one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and o...