Killers of black man Ahmaud Arbery withdraw guilty pleas and head to federal hate crime trial

The man convicted of murder in the shooting of Ahmaud Arbery withdrew his guilty plea on a federal hate crime charge Friday, opting to stand trial with his father for a second time in the 2020 killing of a black man that prompted calls for racial justice in America.

Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery, and his father Greg McMichael, had reached a deal with federal prosecutors that the killing of Arbery, who was black, was a racially motivated attack.

The two men, who are white, planned to admit their guilt in exchange for spending the first 30 years of their sentencing in a federal prison.

But on Monday the plea deal was rejected by US District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood, following forceful objections by Arbery’s parents. She gave the men until Friday to decide whether they would plead guilty or go to trial.

Travis McMichael changed his plans Friday, telling the judge: ‘I withdraw the plea.’

His father, Greg McMichael, reversed his plan to plead guilty in a legal filing late Thursday. Jury selection in the hate crimes trial will begin Monday.

The McMichaels and their neighbor, William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, were convicted of murder in a Georgia state court in November. Last month, each received a life sentence in prison. Only Bryan, who captured the slaying on video, was given the possibility of parole.

Since the state of Georgia lacked a hate crimes law at the time of the killing, the US Department of Justice had the three men indicted on charges that they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because he was black.

The McMichaels grabbed their guns and jumped in a pickup truck to chase Arbery on February 23, 2020 after spotting him on a run in their coastal Georgia neighborhood. Their neighbor, Bryan, joined in the pursuit on his own truck and recorded Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery.

Their defense tried to argue that they were conducting a citizen’s arrest, that they thought Arbery was a burglar and Travis McMichael had fatally shot Arbery in self-defense.

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