AFP
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NOS News•today, 17:50•Amended today, 18:09
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One of the three convicted in the Ahmaud Arbery case, the black man who was shot while jogging in the US state of Georgia, has been given another life sentence. It concerns Travis McMichael, who shot at Arbery three times from close range in 2020.
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The 36-year-old perpetrator was sentenced to life in prison for murder at the beginning of this year, as was his 66-year-old father Gregory McMichael. Neighbor Roddie Bryan (52) was also sentenced to life in prison in the case.
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Today’s conviction for the gunman – ordered by a federal court – is for committing a hate crime. Father Gregory McMichael and neighbor Roddie Bryan will receive their sentences later today.
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“These devils have broken my heart beyond repair,” the victim’s father Arbery said in court. “You hate black people.”
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Pickup Truck Chase
Father and son McMichael have admitted their act was racially motivated. They decided to chase Arbery in their pickup truck because of his “ethnicity and color”. The gunmen involved their neighbor Bryan, who gave chase in his own car and filmed it. Footage of the shooting surfaced on the internet months later.
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The trio stated in the murder case that they suspected that Arbery was on the run, and that he may have broken in. There was no evidence for this: Arbery had gone jogging in his sports clothes, did nothing wrong and had nothing else with him.
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Arbery was 25 years old when he was shot. The case is regularly cited in Black Lives Matter protests as an example of extreme, racially motivated violence against black citizens.
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