Ahmaud Arbery’s killers were on Wednesday convicted of murder, bringing about a conclusion to the most socially and politically consequential trial in Georgia in recent time.
Ahmaud Arbery’s killers were reported to have chased him, trapped him on a quiet street and blasted him with a shotgun while he was running empty-handed through a Georgia subdivision.
The February 2020 slaying drew limited attention at first. But when the video of the shooting leaked online, Ahmaud Arbery’s death quickly became another example in the nation’s reckoning of racial injustice in the way Black people are treated in their everyday lives.
Now the men all face a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The judge will decide whether their sentences are served with or without the possibility of parole.
Travis McMichael, who shot Ahmaud Arbery, was convicted of all charges. His father Greg McMichael was found not guilty of malice murder, but guilty of four counts of felony murder and four additional felony counts.
William “Roddie” Bryan was found not guilty of malice murder, one felony murder count and one felony aggravated assault count and convicted of three felony murder counts and three additional felony counts.
Though a sentencing hearing won’t take place for another couple of weeks, Judge Timothy Walmsley said on Wednesday, because of the nature of their convictions each man will get life sentences.
Here’s why that is.
Ahmaud Arbery’s killers And Georgia Malice And Felony Murder Laws
Georgia law incorporates a minimum sentence into its malice and felony murder laws, and the law is clear on how long that shall be.
OCGA § 16-5-1 lays out three options: “A person convicted of the offence of murder shall be punished by death, by imprisonment for life without parole, or by imprisonment for life.”
In this case, prosecutors did not seek the death penalty against McMichaels or Bryan. That leaves the option for them to now be sentenced either to life in prison with parole or life in prison without parole.
Whether or not the possibility of parole is incorporated into the sentence will be up to Judge Walmsley.
He said Wednesday he would “give everybody an opportunity to put together whatever evidence may be shown in aggravation from the state or mitigation from the defense” before the sentencing hearing.
The judge said that because in a sentencing hearing, attorneys may present additional evidence and call other witnesses (usually character witnesses) to argue why a person should spend more or less time in jail.
How he ways that additional evidence and testimony will determine the parole situation for each of the men convicted of murder.
Here are the full charges and verdicts for each man:
Travis McMichael
- Malice murder – Guilty
- Felony murder
- Count 1 – Guilty
- Count 2 – Guilty
- Count 3 – Guilty
- Count 4 – Guilty
- Aggravated assault
- Count 1 – Guilty
- Count 2 – Guilty
- False imprisonment to commit false imprisonment – Guilty
- Criminal attempt to commit a felony – Guilty
Greg McMichael
- Malice murder – Not Guilty
- Felony murder
- Count 1 – Guilty
- Count 2 – Guilty
- Count 3 – Guilty
- Count 4 – Guilty
- Aggravated assault
- Count 1 – Guilty
- Count 2 – Guilty
- False imprisonment to commit false imprisonment – Guilty
- Criminal attempt to commit a felony – Guilty
William Bryan
- Malice murder – Not Guilty
- Felony murder
- Count 1 – Not Guilty
- Count 2 – Guilty
- Count 3 – Guilty
- Count 4 – Guilty
- Aggravated assault
- Count 1 – Not Guilty
- Count 2 – Guilty
- False imprisonment to commit false imprisonment – Guilty
- Criminal attempt to commit a felony – Guilty