Two men convicted in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery told a judge in Georgia on Friday they’ll go to trial on federal hate crime charges after their plea bargain had been rejected.
Gregory McMichael and son Travis McMichael had reached a deal with federal prosecutors that their 2020 slaying of Arbery, who is Black, was a racially motivated attack.
The white father and son, convicted in state court in November and sentenced to life behind bars, were going to admit their guilt in U.S. District Court in exchange for spending the first 30 years of their imprisonment in a federal penitentiary.
But Arbery’s family balked at the deal, insisting the men shouldn’t be allowed to pick the locale of their confinement.
And U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Wood on Monday said she wouldn’t abide by the terms of the agreed sentence and gave both men until Friday to decide whether they wanted to withdraw their admissions of guilt and go to trial.
Their case will now go forward, with jury selection set to start on Monday.
The McMichaels armed themselves and pursued Arbery in a truck after they saw him running through their neighborhood on Feb. 23, 2020.
Travis McMichael fatally shot Arbery. The defense tried to argue that the McMichaels were conducting a citizen’s arrest, that they thought Arbery was a burglar and that Travis fired in self-defense.
A nearly all-white jury convicted the McMichaels and another man, neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, who also chased Arbery. Bryan was also sentenced to life, but he could eligible for parole after 30 years.
Phil Helsel contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
