Ahmaud Arbery’s mother vows to fight the plea deal that her son’s convicted murderers struck with federal prosecutors.
Gregory McMichael and his son Travis struck a deal in the federal hate crime case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice that would take them out of state prison and put them in federal prison. The fact that the DOJ accepted the so-called “backroom” deal outraged Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones.
“A copy of the plea agreement has been provided to the Court for its consideration,” said the notices of plea agreements filed Sunday in the DOJ’s Southern District of Georgia.
Arbery’s family believes the McMichaels deserve to rot in state prison for the rest of their lives rather than live out their days in a more accommodating and well-funded federal prison.
Merritt accuses the DOJ of snatching “defeat from the jaws of victory” for accepting the McMichaels’ plea.
Merritt continued raging on why Cooper-Jones prefers the McMichaels stay in Georgia.
Arbery was jogging in a predominantly White neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, in February 2020 when three men chased him down while allegedly shouting threats and racial epithets. Once they had him cornered, Travis McMichael executed Arbery at point-blank range with his shotgun.
The McMichaels were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in state prison, where the Arbery family want them to stay.
A third man, William “Roddy” Bryan, who filmed the murder, was sentenced to prison with the possibility of parole.
