Judge Rejects Plea Deal In Arbery Hate Crime Killing

// This afternoon, US District Judge Lisa G. Wood rejected a proposed plea deal agreed to by the Justice Department and Gregory and Travis McMichael, the father and son defendants convicted earlier this month of killing Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in February of 2020.

Under the terms of the deal, the men would plead guilty to a federal hate crimes charge with a sentence of 30 years. The pair would then have been been transferred to federal custody, serving their sentences out in the marginally less horrible federal penitentiary, rather than in Georgia state prison where they were sentenced to life terms.

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Enable lazy loading. googletag.pubads().enableLazyLoad({ renderMarginPercent: 150, mobileScaling: 2 }); // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-top-300x250" ); googletag.enableServices(); });

Arbery’s family had vehemently objected to the deal for the men who, along with a third defendant, filmed themselves chasing her son down, hitting him with a car, and shooting him multiple times. Travis McMichael is alleged to have stood over Arbery as he lay dying and called him a “fucking n—-r.”

Sponsored Three Traits That Make For An Unrivaled Attorney There are three traits that every attorney needs to be successful – to take on a new legal task feeling unrivaled. From Above the Law And Thomson Reuters

“It is not fair to take away the victory I prayed and fought for. It is not right, it is not fair, it is not just,” Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, told the court.

"It is not fair to take away the victory that I prayed and I fought for… Granting these men what they prefer in their conditions of confinement will defeat me. It gives them one more chance to spit in my face after murdering my son."

— Alex Mallin (@alex_mallin) January 31, 2022

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Enable lazy loading. googletag.pubads().enableLazyLoad({ renderMarginPercent: 150, mobileScaling: 2 }); // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-middle-300x250" ); googletag.enableServices(); }); googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Enable lazy loading. googletag.pubads().enableLazyLoad({ renderMarginPercent: 150, mobileScaling: 2 }); // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-storycontent-440x100" ); googletag.enableServices(); }); googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Enable lazy loading. googletag.pubads().enableLazyLoad({ renderMarginPercent: 150, mobileScaling: 2 }); // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-in-story-youtube-1x1" ); googletag.enableServices(); });

“Ahmaud did not get an option of a plea. Ahmaud was killed. Ahmaud was hunted down,” she said, explaining that the family had not been made aware of the terms of the deal until after it was already signed.

“Granting these men what they prefer in their conditions of confinement will defeat me,” Cooper-Jones went on. “It gives them one more chance to spit in my face after murdering my son.”

Sponsored Sponsored The Definitive Guide To Scaling Your Law Firm Your Step-by-Step Roadmap for Making 2022 Your Best Year Ever. From Unbundled Attorney and Above The Law Sponsored Three Traits That Make For An Unrivaled Attorney There are three traits that every attorney needs to be successful – to take on a new legal task feeling unrivaled. From Above the Law And Thomson Reuters Sponsored A Faster Way To Perfect Your Legal Briefs These new tools can not only accomplish far more than the average human in far less time but also produce better, more reliable results. From Above the Law And Thomson Reuters Sponsored The Definitive Guide To Scaling Your Law Firm Your Step-by-Step Roadmap for Making 2022 Your Best Year Ever. From Unbundled Attorney and Above The Law

“By admitting they were motivated by hate when they hunted & murdered Ahmaud Arbery these men get to transfer to safer, less crowded & more orderly federal detention facilities,” the family’s lawyer Lee Merritt tweeted. “In essence they get to publicly brag about their hatred & then be rewarded by the federal government.”

And apparently the court agreed. Judge Wood rejected the plea deal from the bench on the grounds that it would have locked her in to a fixed term without the possibility of taking the wishes of the victim’s family into account.

The court gave the defendants until Friday to decide whether to go forward with their plea without the sentencing guarantee. If they withdraw the plea, this case will proceed to jury selection on February 7.

googletag.cmd.push( function() { // Enable lazy loading. googletag.pubads().enableLazyLoad({ renderMarginPercent: 150, mobileScaling: 2 }); // Display ad. googletag.display( "div-id-for-bottom-300x250" ); googletag.enableServices(); });

Judge rejects plea deal for man who killed Ahmaud Arbery [AP]

Sponsored Sponsored GCs: When Do You *Really* Need An Elite Law Firm? An agile approach to legal resourcing can bolster your department. Here’s how. From Above The Law and Axiom Sponsored Are You Looking For A Transition Into A First-Class In House Role? Look no further. Successful private equity investor in New York is looking to fill the role of Chief Legal Counsel. From Kinney Recruiting

Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

Topics

ahmaud arbery, Courts, Crime, Lisa Wood, Racism