Ahmaud Arbery’s Killers Get Hefty Sentences for Hate Crimes
THROW AWAY THE KEY
The three white men who hunted down and fatally shot Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery were handed hefty sentences Monday for federal hate crimes, adding to the life sentences they’re already serving for murder. Travis McMichael, who made a slew of racist comments and assumptions, including calling Arbery a “fucking n-----” as he lay dying on the road, was given another life sentence, as was his father Gregory. Their accomplice, William Bryant, was given 35 years. Attorneys for all three men requested that they be able to serve their time in federal prison, but were denied by a judge who said she had no power to grant the requests because the trio was tried and sentenced by the state first. Travis McMichael’s lawyer argued that state prison was so dangerous and McMichael had received so many death threats that it would be akin to a “backdoor death penalty.”