Today, a Georgia judge sentenced the three white vigilante murderers, who took took the life of 25-year-old Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, to life sentences–without the chance of parole for shooter Travis McMichael and his father Gregory McMichael.
The three men Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan were all convicted of Arbery’s murder back in November for the February 23, 2020 killing after they chased Arbery down, for allegedly believing that he was involved in neighborhood robberies.
Arbery was chased for some five minutes before he was “trapped like a rat,” according to Gregory McMichael. His son Travis McMichael then shot Arbery dead.
During victim impact statements, Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said, “This wasn’t a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact. They chose to target my son because they didn’t want him in their community. They chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community. And when they couldn’t sufficiently scare or intimidate him, they killed him.”
Arbery’s sister Jasmine Arbery said her brother was targeted by these white men because of his Black skin “that glistened in the sunlight.” Adding, “These are the qualities that made these men assume that Ahmaud was a dangerous criminal and chase them with guns drawn. To me, those qualities reflect a young man full of life and energy who looked like me and the people I loved.”
Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery, Sr. said, “When I close my eyes, I see his execution in my mind over and over. I will see that for the rest of my life.” He also said, “The man who killed my son is sitting in this courtroom every single day next to his father. I’ll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again. Not at a dinner table, not at a holiday, and not at a wedding… I pray that no one in this courtroom ever has to do we we did – bury their child. Not only did they lynch my son in broad daylight, they killed him while he was doing what he loved more than anything – running. That’s when he felt most alive, most free and they took all that from him.”
After listening to these victim impact statements from Arbery family members, and arguments from defense lawyers and prosecutors, Glynn County Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley issued his ruling on the fate of Arbery’s murderers.
Before delivering his ruling, Judge Walmsley said he found the video of Arbery’s murder “chilling” while saying he thought about the “terror that must have been in the mind” of Arbery. Walmsley stated that “confrontation was being sought” by the murderers.
In a dramatic moment, Judge Walmsley called for a minute of silence to dramatized a portion of the five minutes when Arbery was running for his life from the three men who were about to end his life.
After his statement, Judge Walmsley started by sentencing Travis McMichael, 35, to life without the possibility of parole. He then sentenced Gregory McMichael, 66, to life without the possibility of parole. Finally, he sentenced William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, to life with the possibility of parole.
Federal charges are still pending against all three of these convicted, and now sentenced, murderers of Ahmaud Arbery.
