(Bloomberg) -- A federal judge overseeing the U.S. Justice Department's hate-crimes case against three White men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery rejected plea deals struck by two of the killers, saying she didn't want to be locked into the 30-year sentences in the agreements.
At a hearing Monday in Brunswick, Georgia, U.S. District Judge Lisa G. Wood said Travis McMichael and his father, Greg, have until Feb. 4 to decide whether to follow through with their plan to plead guilty to federal hate crimes charges or go to trial. The McMichaels and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, were convicted of murder in state court last month for the shooting of Arbery, who was Black.
The judge didn't hint at what sentences she thought might be appropriate for the McMichaels, who must still spend the rest of their lives behind bars after being convicted in the state case. Wood's sentences will determine how long the men might stay in federal prison before returning to a state lockup.
The McMichaels reached plea deals Friday, while Bryan has not, according to the government. Prosecutors said the plea deals would have required the McMichaels to admit they targeted Arbery because of his race, a key element of the hate-crimes charges.
The three men were convicted of murder in a state prosecution and sentenced to life behind bars. Their federal hate-crimes prosecution was set to go to trial Feb. 7. Arbery was running in the McMichaels' Georgia neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020, when the three chased him down. Only Bryan was given a chance of parole after 30 years.
Victim's Mother
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, had asked the judge to reject the plea deal. She said the McMichaels are strategically pleading guilty so they can spend the first 30 years of their life sentences in federal prison before going to state prison.
“I'm asking on behalf of his family, on behalf of his memory and on behalf of fairness that you do not grant this plea, in order to allow these men to transfer out of Georgia state custody into the federal prisons where they prefer to be,” she told the court.
Lawyers for the men declined to comment on the case because it's still pending.
Before Travis McMichael's plea deal was struck down, federal prosecutor Tara M. Lyons said it would result in his “admitting publicly in front of the nation that this offense was racially motivated.”
“Your honor, I understand the anger, the pain and the struggle that the family is feeling with this resolution,” Lyons said. “As a mother raising a son in these turbulent times, I've personally struggled with whether or not this resolution is the best course of actions.”
Lyons said she ultimately determined the deal was in the best interest of all sides.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Monday that her department consulted with the victims' attorneys before signing the agreement.
“The Justice Department entered the plea agreement only after the victims' attorneys informed me that the family was not opposed to it,” Clarke said.
The McMichaels and Bryan were charged in April with hate crimes and the attempted kidnapping of Arbery, adding a federal case to the earlier proceeding in state court. The indictment also charged the McMichaels with separate counts of using firearms during a crime of violence.
The men “used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery's right to use a public street because of his race,” the Justice Department said in announcing the charges.
‘Hunted Down'
Georgia Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley, who oversaw the earlier trial in state court, was required by state law to sentence the men to life behind bars after a jury found them guilty of murder. When he handed down the sentence, Walmsley said Arbery was “hunted down and shot” in a “chilling, truly disturbing scene.”
“He was killed because individuals here in this courtroom took the law into their own hands,” the judge said.
The case is U.S. v. McMichael, 21-cr-00022, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Georgia (Brunswick).
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