BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- A federal judge rejected a plea agreement Monday that would have averted a hate crimes trial for the white man convicted of murder for fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, whose parents objected to the deal as unfair and unjust.
The decision by U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood came just hours after prosecutors gave notice that father and son Greg and Travis McMichael had agreed to plead guilty to hate crime charges that they chased, threatened and killed 25-year-old Arbery because he was Black.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/21plea/]
But Travis McMichael's sentencing hearing Monday turned emotional and contentious as federal prosecutors urged the judge to approve the deal even after Arbery's parents pleaded for her to deny it.
Travis McMichael would have received 30 years in federal prison to be served alongside the penalty of life in prison without parole imposed by a state court judge for the murder conviction. By pleading guilty, he would have given up the chance to appeal his federal sentence.
But Arbery's family objected to a provision that sought to immediately transfer Travis McMichael to federal custody from state prison. Arbery's parents argued that conditions in federal prison wouldn't be as tough for the McMichaels.
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said she felt strongly that Travis McMichael should serve his entire sentence in a Georgia state prison.
"Please listen to me," Cooper-Jones told the judge. "Granting these men their preferred choice of confinement would defeat me. It gives them one last chance to spit in my face."
Wood said she was rejecting the deal because its terms would have locked her into a specific sentence. She said the Arbery family should have a say at sentencing in whatever punishment is ultimately given.
Now the question is whether Travis McMichael will withdraw the guilty plea he entered Monday, and whether Greg McMichael, who had been offered the same deal the judge denied, will still plead guilty as planned. The judge gave them both until Friday to return to the federal courthouse in Brunswick and give their answers.
The McMichaels armed themselves and chased Arbery in a pickup after they spotted him running in their neighborhood outside the port city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, joined the chase in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael blasting Arbery with a shotgun.
A national outcry ensued when the graphic video leaked online two months later. Georgia was one of just four states without a hate crimes law at the time. Legislators quickly approved one, but it came too late for state hate crime charges in Arbery's killing.
FEDERAL CHARGES
Despite being convicted of murder in a Georgia state court trial in November, the McMichaels and Bryan still face federal hate crimes charges that accuse them of violating Arbery's civil rights and targeting him because he was Black.
Officials said they found no stolen items on Arbery, and surveillance video does not show him taking anything at the construction site where the altercation began. He was just jogging, Arbery's family said.
Travis McMichael told the judge in a loud, clear voice Monday that he was willing to plead guilty to killing Arbery out of racial animosity.
Prosecutor Tara Lyons asked the judge to set aside the Arbery family's misgivings about the deal, saying Travis McMichael's admission would send a powerful message.
"He is pleading guilty to a federal hate crime and publicly confessing to the world that this crime would not have happened had Ahmaud Arbery not been Black," Lyons said.
Lyons acknowledged the Arbery family's disappointment in a justice system heavily criticized for its handling of the killing, which went more than two months without arrests.
"I personally understand every expression of anger and distrust that the Arbery family feels, with law enforcement and the justice system," Lyons said. "I have no doubt if my son were chased down and shot like an animal, because of the color of his skin, I would feel the same."
But federal prosecutors said they had consulted with attorneys for Arbery's parents before signing off on any deals.
"The Justice Department entered the plea agreement only after the victims' attorneys informed me that the family was not opposed to it," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.
'BACKROOM DEAL'
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery's mother, said that was misleading. He told reporters outside the courthouse that the family had previously rejected an identical plea deal proposed by prosecutors.
"The family no longer wanted to engage them concerning that point," Merritt said. "They had had their answer. They [federal prosecutors] took that as a deferral."
Merritt had denounced the agreements in a statement Sunday, calling them a "backroom deal" and a "betrayal to the Arbery family who is devastated."
"Federal prison is a country club when compared to state prison," he tweeted Monday. "Federal prisons are less populated, better funded and generally more accommodating than state prisons."
No notices have been filed in court of a plea deal for Bryan. For now, he appears to be headed to trial next week -- with or without the McMichaels, depending on whether they choose to follow through with their guilty pleas.
Wood continued preparations for trial proceedings, saying she planned to summon the first 50 potential jurors to the courthouse next Monday for questioning on whether they can serve as fair, unbiased jurors in such a highly publicized case.
During the state trial in Glynn County Superior Court, the defense argued that the white men had authority to chase Arbery because they reasonably suspected he had been committing crimes in their neighborhood. Travis McMichael testified he opened fire only after Arbery attacked him with fists and tried to grab his shotgun.
The federal judge ordered that a jury pool be chosen from throughout the Southern District of Georgia, which covers 43 counties, to improve the odds of seating a fair and unbiased jury.
ROLE OF RACISM
Lawyers for the defendants have previously argued that the three men pursued Arbery in the belief that he was behind neighborhood break-ins, not because of his race. But prosecutors pointed to texts and social media posts as evidence of racism. Bryan told investigators that Travis McMichael used the n-word after shooting Arbery, a claim the younger McMichael's attorneys denied.
On Monday, prosecutors and law enforcement witnesses said Travis McMichael's social media and messages showed "frequent use" of racial slurs, including the n-word and calling Black people "monkeys" and "savages." A federal investigator said there was evidence that the younger McMichael "expressed a desire for crimes to be committed against African Americans" and that he associated them with crime.
Authorities noted that the license plate on the McMichaels' truck bore an old Georgia flag with the Confederate battle emblem.
Travis McMichael also used a racial slur in a text message while referring to a "crackhead" with "gold teeth," prosecutors have said, and Bryan's attorney sought in a court filing to bar testimony "that would suggest Bryan did not approve of his adopted daughter dating an African American man," among other evidence.
Officials did not seek to show a hateful motive in November's trial. After the McMichaels and Bryan were sentenced in January, attorneys for Arbery's family said their clients wished to see the federal trial go forward to explicitly confront the role racism played in the defendants' actions.
Information for this article was contributed by Russ Bynum of The Associated Press; and by Annabelle Timsit, Hannah Knowles and Meryl Kornfield of The Washington Post.
FILE - Travis McMichael is shown during the sentencing of he and his father Greg McMichael and neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan in the Glynn County Courthouse, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, in Brunswick, Ga. The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery and his father have reached a plea deal that could avoid their trial on federal hate crime charges. Arbery's parents denounced the deal as a betrayal, and called on the judge to reject it. Court documents filed late Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, by prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department say plea agreements were reached with Travis and Greg McMichael. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, Pool, File)
FILE - Ahmaud Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones, center, is surrounded by supporters after Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced Greg McMichael, his son, Travis McMichael, and a neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan to life in prison in the Glynn County Courthouse, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022, in Brunswick, Ga. The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery and his father have reached a plea deal that could avoid their trial on federal hate crime charges. Arbery's parents denounced the deal as a betrayal, and called on the judge to reject it. Court documents filed late Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, by prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department say plea agreements were reached with Travis and Greg McMichael. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File)
FILE - Greg McMichael stands to be recognized during jury selection for the trial of he and his son Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan, at the Glynn County Courthouse, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, in Brunswick, Ga. The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery and his father have reached a plea deal that could avoid their trial on federal hate crime charges. Arbery's parents denounced the deal as a betrayal, and called on the judge to reject it. Court documents filed late Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, by prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department say plea agreements were reached with Travis and Greg McMichael. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, Pool, FIle)