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Tag Archives: McMichael
Gregory McMichael will face trial on federal hate crime charges in Ahmaud Arbery killing after withdrawing plea agreement
Attorneys for Gregory McMichael informed the court that the prior plea agreement over hate crime charges is null and void, according to court documents filed Thursday in federal district court. Trial proceedings are slated to begin Monday. He has pleaded not guilty.
The federal charges include one count of interference with rights and one count of attempted kidnapping, according to an indictment.
Gregory McMichael was found guilty on state charges and sentenced last month to life in prison for his role in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was chased and gunned down after jogging near Brunswick, Georgia.
Travis McMichael, Gregory’s son and the man who shot and killed Arbery, will make a court appearance Friday for a change of plea hearing, according to the court docket. His plea deal with prosecutors was rejected by a federal judge Monday.
Travis McMichael had agreed to plead guilty to a single hate crime charge — interference with rights — in exchange for prosecutors recommending he serve 30 years in federal prison.
After completing the federal sentence, he would’ve been returned to Georgia to finish his sentence of life in prison without parole. Five of those final years would have counted toward his supervised release from federal prison.
Witnesses who spoke at Monday’s plea hearing included an FBI special agent, who testified that authorities searched Travis McMichael’s cell phone and social media accounts and found “frequent use of racial slurs” in reference to Black people.
US District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood said she was not comfortable with the sentencing guidelines. Arbery’s family also opposed the deal.
The Department of Justice respected the court’s decision to not accept the plea and had “entered the plea agreement only after the victims’ attorneys informed me that the family was not opposed to it,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement provided to CNN.
The judge had been expected to rule separately on the same plea deal for Gregory McMichael, but after the judge rejected Travis’ deal, attorneys for both McMichaels asked for more time to decide whether to change their pleas to guilty.
A third individual found responsible for Arbery’s murder, neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole and also faces federal hate crime charges.
CNN’s Alta Spells, Raja Razek, Maria Cartaya, Elliot C. McLaughlin, Angela Barajas and Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.
Gregory McMichael withdraws guilty plea in federal case over Ahmaud Arbery murder
Gregory McMichael, the retired Georgia police officer convicted in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, informed a federal court Thursday evening that he has withdrawn his plans to plead guilty to federal hate crime charges connected to Arbery’s death after a federal judge this week rejected the terms of a plea agreement reached with the Justice Department.
Counsel for McMichael, the father of Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery in February 2020 three times at close range, informed U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Wood in a filing that they are now ready for him to stand trial on the federal hate crimes charges next week.
It is still not clear whether Travis McMichael similarly plans to withdraw his plans to plead guilty after the hearing earlier this week when Wood said she could not accept the terms of the plea agreement reached between the DOJ and the McMichaels, which would have constrained her ability to determine their sentence.
Wood told the men she wanted an answer by Friday.
If Travis McMichael also decides to withdraw his pleas, they will go to trial next week with their co-defendant William “Roddie” Bryan, who was not offered the same plea deal.
Gregory McMichael, 66, and his 36-year-old son were convicted of state murder charges last year along with Bryan, 52, and were all sentenced to life in prison, the McMichaels without the possibility of parole.
Friday’s decision by the McMichaels comes just days after Wood rejected a plea deal in which federal prosecutors guaranteed the men would be able to serve the first 30 years of confinement in federal prison.
During a hearing on Monday in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, Wood said she felt “uncomfortable” approving a plea deal that locked her into giving the McMichaels a three-decade sentence in a federal penitentiary. She noted that the case was in its early stages and said, “I can’t say that 360 months is the precise, fair sentence in this case.”
Wood’s decision came on the heels of Arbery’s parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, giving impassioned statements in court. They asked the judge to deny the men their wish to go to federal prison, which is safer and better funded than most state prisons, according to legal experts.
“Granting these men their preferred conditions of confinement would defeat me,” Cooper-Jones told Wood. “It gives them one last chance to spit in my face after murdering my son.”
At Monday’s hearing, assistant U.S. attorney Tara Lyons said Travis and Gregory McMichael agreed to plead guilty to count one of a multi-count indictment alleging they interfered with Arbery’s right to enjoy the use of a public road he was jogging on “because of Arbery’s race and color.” Lyons said the agreement called for other charges to be dismissed, including attempted kidnapping and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
The agreement also called for the McMichaels to waive their right to appeal in both the federal and state cases.
Arbery, 25, was fatally shot on Feb. 23, 2020, after the McMichaels saw him jogging in their Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia. They said they assumed Arbery was a burglar, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. The McMichaels’ neighbor, Bryan, joined the pursuit, blocking the victim’s escape path with his truck.
Bryan also used his cellphone to record Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun, video that became integral to their state murder convictions.
Ahmaud Arbery’s family attorney vows to oppose federal plea deal with Travis and Gregory McMichael on hate crime charges in Arbery’s murder
Details of the agreement were not specified in the filing, but an attorney for Arbery’s mother said the family “is devastated” by the deal and vows to oppose it.
The McMichaels were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility for parole in a Glynn County, Georgia, court in early January for murdering Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black jogger.
The men were also indicted on federal hate crimes charges. That trial was scheduled to begin February 7, according to court documents.
“A copy of the plea agreement has been provided to the Court for its consideration,” said the notices of plea agreements filed Sunday in US District Court, Southern District of Georgia.
A third man convicted of killing Arbery and also charged in the federal hate crimes case, William “Roddie” Bryan, was not mentioned in Sunday’s court filings. Bryan, who shot video of Arbery’s killing, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
Federal prosecutors asked Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, earlier this month if she would consider a plea deal for her son’s killers before the men were sentenced in Georgia, and she declined, CNN has reported.
In an Instagram post, Cooper-Jones’s attorney, S. Lee Merritt said he “will oppose this deal before the Court” Monday. He added, “This back room deal represents a betrayal to the Arbery family who is devastated.”
Trial drew national attention
The three defendants were convicted for their roles in Arbery’s murder, which occurred on February 23, 2020. The McMichaels told police they believed Arbery was a suspect in recent burglaries in the neighborhood and followed him. Bryan, a neighbor, got in a vehicle and also pursued Arbery as he was jogging.
Travis McMichael exited the vehicle after catching up to Arbery, and a struggle over McMichael’s firearm resulted in Travis McMichael shooting and killing Arbery.
The McMichaels were arrested on May 7, 2020, days after video of the shooting surfaced, and Bryan was taken into custody two weeks later.
The subsequent trial drew national attention as the circumstances surrounding the killing were seeped in race, video evidence and the rights and limitations of self-defense using firearms.
The case dovetailed with the killings of three Black people — Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, George Floyd in Minneapolis and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta — reigniting concerns over racial injustice and prompting civil unrest nationwide.
Much was also made about the investigation prior to the trial — which featured multiple prosecutor recusals — as well as tactics utilized by some of the defendants’ defense attorneys during the trial that were questioned by legal experts and court observers.
The presence of civil rights leaders in the gallery during the trial, such as Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson brought condemnations and accusations of undue influence from at least one defense attorney, and another defense attorney’s comments on Arbery’s toenails drew heavy criticism from Arbery’s family and others as offensive.
CNN’s Alta Spells and Travis Caldwell contributed to this report.
Ahmaud Arbery news – latest: Travis and Gregory McMichael sentenced to life without parole
Judge sentences Gregory and Travis McMichael to life for murder of Ahmaud Arbery
Gregory and Travis McMichael, white father and son convicted of murdering Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery, have been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 20 years.
A judge handed down the sentences in Glynn County, Georgia, on Friday afternoon. The McMichaels’ neighbour and co-defendant William “Roddie” Bryan Jr was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after 30 years served.
The sentence came nearly two years after the three men chased Arbery, who was unarmed, through a neighbourhood in their trucks before shooting him in February 2020. The attack was captured in footage filmed by Bryan Jr.
All three men stood trial in November on nine charges: one count of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and one count of criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Travis McMichael was convicted of and received the top sentence for malice murder, while Gregory McMichael and Bryan Jr received their top sentences for felony murder.
Arbery’s death ‘should force us to consider what a neighbour may be’ – judge
In his comments during sentencing, judge Timothy Walmsley referred to a statement made by Arbery’s mother at court on Friday.
“They chose to target my son because they didn’t want him in their community,” Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery‘s mother, had said earlier. “When they couldn’t sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him.”
In his sentencing, the judge quoted the mother’s remarks, saying they struck him as “very true”.
“At minimum, Ahmaud Arbery should force us to consider expanding our definition of what a neighbour may be and how we treat them,” the judge said.
Read more about Ms Cooper-Jones’ victim’s statement here:
Adam Withnall8 January 2022 05:05
Family rejects plea deal for three killers’ federal hate crime charges
Ahead of Friday’s sentencing, it was revealed Arbery’s family rejected a plea deal that would have seen his killers spend 30 years in prison for federal hate crime charges.
The Department of Justice approached Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, earlier this week about the deal, under which Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr would be sentenced to three decades in prison if they admitted they were motivated by hate when they shot dead the Black jogger.
Ms Cooper-Jones told CBS News she rejected the deal because she wants the men to face those charges in court.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has more:
Megan Sheets8 January 2022 04:00
ICYMI: Victim impact statement from Arbery’s mom
Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones said her son would have cut his toenails “if he knew he would be murdered that day” as she delivered an emotional victim impact statement at the sentencing of his three murderers.
Ms Cooper-Jones referenced comments made by one of the defence attorneys at trial where they described her son’s “long, dirty toenails”, sparking outcry over the attempt to paint Mr Arbery as a criminal and not as the victim.
“Turning Ahmaud Arbery into a victim after the choices that he made does not reflect the reality of what brought Ahmaud Arbery to Satilla Shores in his khaki shorts with no socks to cover his long, dirty toenails,” Gregory McMichael’s lawyer Laura Hogue said in closing arguments.
Ms Cooper-Jones, who was wearing a badge with a photo of her son, choked back tears as she referenced the derogatory comments about her son.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has more:
Megan Sheets8 January 2022 03:00
ICYMI: Judge’s remarks at sentencing
Before delivering his sentencing decision, Judge Timothy Walmsley asked the court to sit in silence for one minute, saying it was a “fraction of the time that Ahmaud Arbery was running in Satilla Shores”.
“The chase in Satilla Shores went on over around a five minute period,” he said, saying he has been thinking of “the terror that must have been in the mind” of Mr Arbery during that time. As we all now know based upon the verdict in November, Ahmaud Arbery was murdered,” he said.
“It’s a tragedy, a tragedy on many, many levels. As we understand it, he left his home going for a run and ended up running for his life.”
The judge said he reached his decision to grant a lower sentence for Bryan because he believes he “stands in very different shoes” to the McMichaels.
He said he believes Bryan has shown remorse following the murder in his actions in the aftermath.
“He took steps early on in this process that demonstrated he had grave concerns that what occurred should not have occurred,” he said. “It does make Mr Bryan sit differently.”
However, he said that the verdict reached by the jury could not be disputed based on the evidence and that the outcome of the day could have ended differently if he hadn’t joined in the chase in his pickup truck.
By contrast, Judge Walmsley said that “very early on Gregory McMichael tried to establish a narrative” about the murder.
He quoted some of the 66-year-old’s statements in the aftermath including: “If I could have got a shot at the guy I would have shot him.”
He also pointed to Travis McMichael’s comments that it was the “worst day of my life”, pointing out the impact on so many other lives for the murder.
The footage of Travis McMichael “lifting the shotgun to fire at Ahmaud Arbery” showed a “truly disturbing scene” of a man who was “hunted down and shot”.
“And he was killed because individuals here in this courtroom took the law into their own hands,” he said. “When Ahmaud Arbery fell the McMichaels turned their backs.”
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley
(REUTERS)
Megan Sheets8 January 2022 02:00
RECAP: The sentences
Travis McMichael, 35, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 20 years on nine charges including malice murder after he shot Mr Arbery twice at close range with a shotgun.
Gregory McMichael was handed life without the possibility of parole plus 20 years on eight charges including felony murder. The 66-year-old armed himself with a firearm and jumped in his truck with his son that day, chasing him “like a rat” and threatening “stop or I’ll blow your f***ing head off!”
Bryan, 52, was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole after being found guilty on six charges including felony murder after jurors heard how he spotted his neighbours chasing Mr Arbery and jumped in his own truck to join in. He then used his vehicle as a “5,000-pound lethal weapon” to corner and attempt to strike the unarmed Black man.
All three were effectively handed life sentences as, under state law, life with the possibility of parole means parole can only be considered after 30 years in prison.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has more:
Megan Sheets8 January 2022 01:00
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother ‘very thankful’ for life sentences
Wanda Cooper-Jones told CNN that her family was “very thankful” after the three men who killed her son were sentenced to life in prison.
“They got what they truly deserved today. I think we finally got justice for Ahmaud,” she told the news network.
Graeme Massie8 January 2022 00:36
Arbery’s parents cry as sentences are handed down
A string of images captured Ahmaud Arbery’s family’s reaction to Friday’s sentencing.
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones, center, reacts as Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentences Greg McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan in the Glynn County Courthouse on Friday
(AP)
Ahmaud Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery reacts as Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentences Greg McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan in the Glynn County Courthouse on Friday
(AP)
(Getty Images)
Ahmaud Arbery’s father Marcus Arbery holds hand with supporters on Friday
(AP)
Megan Sheets8 January 2022 00:00
Prosecution asks to bar defendants from profiting off killing
After the sentences were handed down, prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked the judge to bar the defendants from making any money off of their convictions or trial – including from book or movie deals.
She said such a ruling would ensure the men “do not reap any sort of benefit from their actions”.
Ms Dunikoski added that should the defendants make any money off of this ordeal, the profits would be directed to the Arbery family.
Bryan Jr’s attorney responded by saying: “When the court does that, my only concern is how that would impact Mr Bryan’s ability to raise money for his defense, for his appeal. I wouldn’t want to be in a situation where he couldn’t do that inadvertently because of a sentencing condition.”
Megan Sheets7 January 2022 23:00
ANALYSIS: What comes next?
Almost two years after Ahmaud Arbery was chased through a neighbourhood by three men in pickup trucks and shot dead in the street, his killers were told today they would spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
Travis McMichael, 35, and his father Gregory McMichael, 66, were both sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Their neighbour William “Roddie” Bryan Jr was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
However, the sentencing of the three murderers does not mark the end of the case.
All three men are expected to file appeals against their convictions. Meanwhile, they are also due to stand trial on federal hate crime charges in February.
The first district attorney to handle the case is also facing criminal charges over her handling of the initial investigation.
Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones is also pursuing a civil lawsuit against police and prosecutors over their handling of the case.
Beyond this, many also feel the case could have far-reaching implications on so-called vigilante justice across America.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp explains what to expect over the coming months:
Megan Sheets7 January 2022 22:24
Arbery’s mother reacts to sentencing
The family of Ahmaud Arbery, whose killers were sentenced to life in prison without parole, thanked the outpouring of community support and commitment of civil rights advocates who have sought justice for his murder.
“I sat in that courtroom for five weeks straight,” his mother Wanda Cooper-Jones told reporters outside Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia on 7 January.
“But I knew we could come out with a victory,” she said. “I never doubted it. I knew today would come.”
She said the city of Brunswick “thought I would have to fight this fight alone, so they chose to ignore me.”
“They didn’t know I had you guys standing with me,” she added. “Thank you for standing with my family.”
The Independent’s Alex Woodward has more:
Megan Sheets7 January 2022 21:41
Ahmaud Arbery’s killers get life sentences; no possibility of parole for Travis and Gregory McMichael
The three men convicted in Ahmaud Arbery‘s murder were sentenced Friday to life in prison. Travis McMichael, 35, and his father Gregory McMichael, 66, were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, will have to serve 30 years of his life sentence before he’s eligible for parole. The three men, all of whom are White, were convicted in November for the killing of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, in Georgia in February 2020.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley noted how the McMichaels went after Arbery after Gregory McMichael saw him running in a street and said, “Let’s go.” The judge said, “Ahmaud Arbery was then hunted down and shot, and he was killed because individuals here in this courtroom took the law into their own hands.”
Walmsley said Arbery was chased for roughly five minutes and “gunned down.” The judge sat in silence for one minute to give a sense of that amount of time. The shooting was captured on cellphone video, which the jury viewed during the trial.
“This was a killing,” Walmsley said before announcing the sentences recommended by prosecutors. “It was callous, and it occurred — as far as the court is concerned based upon the evidence — because confrontation was being sought.”
AP
During Friday’s lengthy hearing, the McMichaels’ attorneys asked the judge to give their clients the chance to earn parole, and Bryan’s lawyer tried to persuade Walmsley to let the parole board decide when Bryan could be released.
In emotional testimony, Arbery’s family asked for the defendants to receive the maximum punishment allowed.
“They each have no remorse and do not deserve any leniency,” Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, told Walmsley. “This wasn’t a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact. They chose to target my son because they didn’t want him in their community. They chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community, and when they couldn’t sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him.”
Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, Arbery’s father, were seen crying in the courtroom when the sentences were announced.
AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, Pool
During the trial, prosecutors said Arbery was out running when the men chased him through the neighborhood, eventually boxing him in with their trucks before Travis McMichael fired the fatal shots. The defense team argued the men believed Arbery was a burglary suspect and claimed they acted in self defense.
The jurors spent just 10 hours deliberating before finding Travis McMichael guilty on all counts, including malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. Gregory McMichael and Bryan were not convicted of malice murder, but were found guilty of felony murder and other charges.
The McMichaels and Bryan are also facing federal hate crime charges. A separate trial in the federal case is scheduled to begin on February 7.
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice approached Cooper-Jones, about a plea deal that would have the McMichaels spend 30 years in prison if they admit that what they did was motivated by hate, according to Arbery family lawyer Lee Merritt.
Cooper-Jones told “CBS Mornings” on Friday she rejected the deal because she wants the men to stand trial in court for those charges.
“I think that the federal charges are just as important as the state charges and I think that they need to stand trial for those charges as well,” Cooper-Jones said.
Clare Hymes contributed reporting.
Unlike Kyle Rittenhouse, Travis McMichael ‘didn’t come off as credible,’ experts say
Travis McMichael sealed his fate when he took the stand in his own defense in the murder trial related to the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who was chased down and killed by three white men in what prosecutors called a “modern-day lynching,” legal experts said.
A nearly all-white jury convicted McMichael of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit a felony. His father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were acquitted of the top charge and convicted of others, including felony murder.
The defendants had argued self-defense, as well as acting within their rights under Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, which was legal at the time but changed after the shooting.
Once self-defense was claimed, the burden fell on prosecutors to disprove the defense’s argument beyond a reasonable doubt.
But Travis McMichael “really didn’t come off as credible,” criminal defense attorney Bernarda Villalona said on NBC News.
“From Travis McMichael’s own mouth, he knew Ahmaud Arbery was not armed; he knew Ahmaud Arbery didn’t threaten him; he knew Ahmaud Arbery didn’t have anything in his pants,” she said. “The only threat here was two pickup trucks chasing an unarmed African American male.”
Wednesday’s verdict came just five days after the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was accused of shooting three men, two of them fatally, during protests last year in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Rittenhouse’s defense attorneys argued that their client was the one facing danger after being threatened with a skateboard and chased down the street during his encounters with the men.
That argument and Rittenhouse’s own testimony, plus a grainy video played in the courtroom showing chaos in the streets, appeared to support his claim of self-defense.
That wasn’t the case during the trial over Arbery’s killing.
“Travis McMichael was a horrible witness,” said former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. “Rarely have I seen a defendant who’s put on the stand by his defense team really perform so poorly.”
On the stand last week, Travis McMichael shared his version of what happened on Feb. 23, 2020, when the McMichaels and Bryan chased Arbery in their trucks after they spotted him in their neighborhood outside Brunswick, Georgia.
Travis McMichael shot Arbery with a shotgun at close range. Bryan filmed the fatal encounter on his cellphone. Video evidence appeared to support the prosecution’s narrative that it was Arbery, not the defendants, who was running for his life and then fought back in his final moments.
“While we can celebrate that justice was done here, if there hadn’t been a video, these men probably would have gotten away with it,” said former federal prosecutor Cynthia Alksne, a legal analyst for MSNBC. “I don’t think without this video we’d have a conviction.”
Travis McMichael said that on the day of the shooting, he was trying to get his young son to take a nap when his father came into the house “in an almost frantic state” and said the person they believed was responsible for crimes in the neighborhood had just run by.
Travis McMichael said he grabbed his shotgun and got into the driver’s side of his truck. Gregory McMichael was in the passenger seat. The two men drove in the direction they believed Arbery had run and eventually caught up with him.
“If you are the first aggressor, then you really have an uphill battle convincing a jury that you have a right to take the life of another,” Kirschner said. “Travis McMichael was the first aggressor, the third aggressor, the fourth aggressor, and, ultimately, these three men anointed themselves judge, jury and executioner of a young man who was doing nothing but running in a part of town that apparently offended the McMichaels and Mr. Bryan.”
Travis McMichael’s testimony was a “train wreck for him,” Kirschner added. “He should have been convicted.”
Travis McMichael, man who shot Ahmaud Arbery, testifies in murder trial: “This was a life-or-death situation”
One day after the prosecution rested its case, one of the men charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery took the stand to testify. Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery in February 2020, walked the courtroom through his version of the minutes before the 25-year-old unarmed Black man was killed, calling it a “life-or-death situation.”
McMichael said he was at his home with his son and his mother on February 23 when his father walked into the house and told him that a man they suspected of breaking into a house in their Georgia neighborhood earlier that month had just run past their house.
McMichael had previously told the court that on February 11 he saw someone “lurking” and “creeping” around his neighbor’s house, which was under construction. McMichael had heard that some people were entering the house and that some things had been stolen. When McMichael went to confront this person, who he described as a Black man, the person appeared to reach into his waistband, leading McMichael to assume he may be armed. McMichael said he got back into his car and left the scene and the man entered the house. Surveillance video from the construction sight showed a man briefly walk through the house but not take anything.
McMichael said he wasn’t sure the man his father saw on February 23 was the same he had seen a few weeks prior, but that he wanted to figure out what was going on. McMichael told the court on Tuesday that when he went outside one of his neighbors was pointing down the street, which he assumed meant that the man had run in that direction. McMichael and his father, both of whom were armed, got into McMichael’s white pickup truck. McMichael said he believed his father had called 911.
The pair spotted Arbery running down the road and identified him as the same person they’d seen at their neighbor’s home. McMichael said they repeatedly pulled up parallel to Arbery and asked him to stop and talk.
But Arbery continued to run without saying a word to them, McMichael claimed. McMichael described him as looking angry, saying, “It made me think something’s happened.” McMichael was concerned Arbery may be armed because of the incident from a few weeks prior.
After several attempts to talk to him and “deescalate” the situation, McMichael said, Arbery started running towards their truck. At that point, McMichael was standing next to his truck with the door open and Greg McMichael, his father, was in the back of the truck.
McMichael said he grabbed his shotgun and told Arbery to stop as he got nearer to the truck, fearing Arbery would attack his father or that he may be armed. But Arbery ran to the other side of the truck, McMichael said. Then, Arbery and McMichael met at the front of the truck and Arbery grabbed McMichael’s shotgun, he said.
“It was obvious that he was attacking me,” he said through tears, adding that it was a “life-or-death situation.”
McMichael said he fired a shot but that Arbery did not stop. He then tried to push the shotgun toward Arbery and then back down to free the gun from his grip, but failed. McMichael added “I knew that he was on me” and was worried that if he tripped or something else happened Arbery would overpower him.
Handout
McMichael said he fired again, but said Arbery was “still fighting” and “not relenting.” After the third shot, Arbery “disengaged,” let go of the gun and ran off. Arbery was shot three times, but McMichael said that at the time he thought he’d shot him twice.
McMichael and his father then ran over and realized that Arbery was dead, McMichael testified. At that time, the police — who McMichael said he’d called just prior to Arbery approaching his truck — had arrived at the scene.
With authorities at the scene, McMichael said he put his shotgun down and “after that it was a blur.”
McMichael, 35, is on trial alongside of his 65-year-old father and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 51. All three are charged with murder and other crimes, including federal hate crimes. They have pleaded not guilty.
Since they were charged last year, the McMichaels have maintained that they believed Arbery was the burglary suspect who had been stealing items from the neighborhood in the months prior to the shooting, leaving the community “on edge.” Travis McMichael’s defense attorney, Jason Sheffield, has argued the McMichaels had a right to pursue Arbery under Georgia’s citizen’s arrest law, which allowed citizens to detain people who had committed felonies. Governor Brian Kemp repealed the Civil War-era law in the wake of Arbery’s death. The defense has argued that Travis McMichael shot Arbery in self-defense when Arbery attacked him.
Arbery’s family, however, believes he was gunned down because of his race. Bryan, who joined in the chase and filmed the shooting with his cellphone, told investigators Travis McMichael used a racial slur as Arbery lay dying.
Prosecutors have not contested that Arbery went inside the home under construction in the McMichaels’ neighborhood four times, including on the day of the fatal pursuit. But they said there is no evidence Arbery stole anything. In court last spring, Cobb County senior assistant district attorney Linda Dunikoski argued the defendants falsely imprisoned Arbery and weren’t legally allowed to make a citizen’s arrest because they didn’t witness Arbery committing a crime.
The prosecution is scheduled to continue its cross-examination of McMichael on Thursday morning.
Erin Donaghue contributed reporting.