Convicted killer Travis McMichael, one of three men found guilty of murder in state court for the killing Ahmaud Arbery, withdrew his guilty plea Friday in a separate federal hate crimes case hours after his father did the same.
Last week, Greg McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in a separate federal hate crimes case, admitting that they targeted Ahmaud Arbery because of racist motives. In exchange, the agreement would’ve meant the McMichaels could serve as many as 30 years of their life sentences in federal prison, instead of state prison which is considered a tougher environment.
At a hearing Monday, Arbery’s mother begged Federal Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to reject the deal. Wood granted that request, saying she didn’t want her hands to be tied with sentencing.
With federal prison time no longer a given, the father and son convicted killers reversed their pleas in hopes that a federal jury will find them not guilty.
The McMichaels and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, were convicted of murder in a Georgia state court last fall and sentenced to life in prison. Separate from that case, the three white men were also indicted in U.S. District Court on charges that they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because he was Black.
The McMichaels armed themselves and chased Arbery in a pickup truck after spotting the 25-year-old man running past their home just outside the port city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020. Bryan joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun.
During the murder trial in state court, defense attorneys argued the McMichaels were justified in pursuing Arbery because they had a reasonable suspicion that he had committed crimes in their neighborhood. Travis McMichael testified that he opened fire with his shotgun after Arbery attacked him with fists and tried to grab the weapon.
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