Two of the men convicted in case won’t get chance of parole

He described the killing as a “chilling, truly disturbing scene,” telling the court, “When I thought about this, I thought from a lot of different angles. And I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores.”

Arbery’s mother and father cried as the sentences were handed down, according to a pool reporter present. Gregory McMichael leaned back in his chair and appeared visibly shaken, the reporter added, after his son was sentenced.

Earlier in the day, Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones delivered a victim impact statement aimed at achieving a stiffer sentence, asking the judge to impose the maximum sentence.

“I made a promise to you the day I laid you to rest,” she said, speaking directly to her late son. “I told you I love you, and someday, somehow, I would get you justice.”

“Son, I love you as much today as I did the day you were born. Raising you was the honor of my life, and I’m very proud of you.”

The judge imposed additional prison time for each of the defendants for other felony charges. For the McMichaels, that additional time will be served concurrent to each other but consecutive to the life sentence, Walmsley ruled. As a result, both face total sentences of life without parole plus 20 years.

For Bryan, Walmsley imposed additional imprisonment sentences of 10 years for his false imprisonment conviction and 5 years for his criminal attempt to commit a felony conviction. Unlike the sentence for the McMichaels, the additional sentence for Bryan totaling 15 years will be suspended, resulting in a total sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Sentencing, Walmsley said, “does not generally provide closure,” though that may be what Arbery’s family and the community are seeking.

“Instead of closure, maybe it would be best to see today’s proceeding as an exercise in accountability,” the judge said. “We are all accountable for our own actions. Today demonstrates that everybody is accountable to the rule of law. Taking the law into your own hands is a dangerous endeavor.”

The sprawling legal saga isn’t over: The men’s attorneys say they’ll appeal the verdicts; a federal hate crime trial is slated for next month; Arbery’s mother has filed a civil lawsuit; and the original prosecutor faces charges over her alleged handling of the case.

Defendants face decades in prison

Defense attorneys argued for leniency on behalf of their clients, who told police after the shooting that they chased Arbery because they believed he had committed a crime in their neighborhood.

The defendants, their attorneys argued Friday, were upstanding members of their communities who had made mistakes, but whose actions did not deserve among the harshest possible sentences.

Travis McMichael is a “devoted father,” said his attorney Robert Rubin, and a “hard worker,” who thought he was doing the right thing for his community at the time of Arbery’s killing.

“Nothing in Travis McMichael’s life suggests that he’s a danger to society now, or will be a danger to society 30 years from now after he has time to think, to work, to grow,” Rubin said. “When he’s in his 60s, older than me right now, do we still need, want a person like Travis McMichael behind bars?”

“The urge to seek vengeance is strong and understandable in the family,” Rubin said, adding he would do the same if he was in their position. “But vengeance is not the foundation of our sentencing in our criminal justice system — redemption is.”

Greg McMichael’s attorney Laura Hogue similarly asked for life with parole for her client, arguing he was a good man and Arbery’s death was an unintended consequence of his actions.

“If life without parole is a sentence that is held for only the worst of the worst, it simply can’t be a sentence for a person who never intended that tragic result that took place on February 23, (2020),” she said.

Attorney Kevin Gough distinguished Bryan, his client, from the McMichaels. Bryan did not know what was happening when he joined the pursuit of Arbery, Gough argued, nor did he have a weapon with him. And after Arbery was dead, he cooperated with law enforcement, Gough said.

“I think it is readily clear that while Mr. Bryan has disputed and continues to dispute whether things that he did that day constituted crimes, he has never questioned the tragedy of this death,” Gough said.

The McMichaels were arrested two days after the video went viral. Bryan was arrested two weeks after the McMichaels. The men pleaded not guilty.

Dunikoski pointedly questioned how Arbery could be an aggressor when he was unarmed on foot and repeatedly tried to elude three men, two of them armed, in trucks.

Judge Walmsley said Friday that Arbery was “hunted down and shot” by a group of individuals who had taken the law into their own hands.

“Remorse I think can be determined by looking at somebody’s reaction to difficult circumstances and the reality of the situation that they’re in … Remorse is something that’s felt and demonstrated,” the judge said. “In this case, getting back to the video, again, after Ahmaud Arbery fell, the McMichaels turned their backs … and they walked away.”

“This was a killing — it was callous,” he said, “and it occurred, as far as the court is concerned, based upon the evidence, because confrontation was being sought.”

Appeals coming, defense lawyers say

Travis McMichael was convicted on all counts: malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit a felony. His father was convicted on all counts except malice murder, and Bryan was found guilty of all charges aside from malice murder, one felony murder count and one aggravated assault count.

With the death penalty off the table, each murder conviction commanded a sentence of life in prison, with or without parole. Maximum sentences are 20 years for aggravated assault, 10 years for false imprisonment and five years for attempt to commit a felony.

During jury selection, Gough complained of a dearth of older White men without college degrees. Glynn County is 69% White and 27% Black.

Dunikoski alleged Gough’s complaints about Black pastors in the courtroom led to the Prayer Wall.

Many more court dates to come

Federal prosecutors say the defendants “used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race.”

“We are deeply disappointed that the Justice Department bought the false narrative that the media and state prosecutors have promulgated,” Travis McMichael’s defense team said.