<\/p>\n
The three men convicted of killing a black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, have been sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n
Two of the men will not have the possibility of parole.<\/p>\n
A jury found Travis and Gregory McMichael and their neighbour, William Bryan, guilty of murdering Arbery in February 2020.<\/p>\n
Bryan also received the maximum penalty of life, but was offered the possibility of parole in 30 years.<\/p>\n
The judge said the McMichaels had not shown remorse or empathy for Arbery.<\/p>\n
Judge Timothy Walmsley said he gave them severe sentences in part because of their \u201ccallous\u201d words and actions captured on video.<\/p>\n
Ahead of his verdict, the Arbery family called for the harshest possible punishments for the three men as a means of bringing \u201cclosure to a difficult chapter\u201d in their lives.<\/p>\n
The case has raised questions about racial justice in the US South.<\/p>\n
Arbery, 25, a resident of Brunswick, Georgia, was out jogging in an adjacent, predominantly white neighbourhood when the trio chased and cornered him in pick-up trucks before the younger McMichael shot him during a struggle.<\/p>\n
The defendants argued they acted in self-defence while attempting to make a citizen\u2019s arrest of a suspected burglar, but prosecutors argued race was a factor.<\/p>\n
Gregory McMichael, 66, his son Travis, 35, and Bryan, 52, were found guilty in November of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking the law into your own hands is a dangerous endeavour,\u201d Judge Timothy Walmsley said on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cA neighbour is more than the people who just own property around your house,\u201d continued the judge. \u201cIn assuming the worst in others, we show our worst character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Holding a minute of silence to put in context \u201ca fraction of the time Ahmaud Arbery was running in Satilla Shores\u201d, Walmsley said he \u201ckept coming back to the terror that must have been in [Arbery\u2019s] mind\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemorse isn\u2019t simply a statement of regret. Remorse is something that\u2019s felt and demonstrated,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter Ahmaud Arbery fell, the McMichaels turned their backs.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he ruled that while Bryan \u2013 who filmed the incident \u2013 had participated in the ambush, he should have an opportunity for parole because he \u201cdemonstrated grave concerns that what had occurred should not have occurred\u201d soon after.<\/p>\n
\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The three men convicted of killing a black jogger, Ahmaud Arbery, have been sentenced to life in prison. Two of the men will not have the possibility of parole. A jury found Travis and Gregory McMichael and their neighbour, William Bryan, guilty of murdering Arbery in February 2020. Bryan also received the maximum penalty of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":741894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-741893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741893\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}