N'dea Yancey-Bragg, Raisa Habersham and Grace Hauck, USA TODAY
BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A jury found three white men guilty of murder and other charges in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, who was Black, early last year.
Father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan all face minimum sentences of life in prison for the murder on Feb. 23, 2020. The judge will decide whether that comes with or without the possibility of parole.
After more than 10 hours of deliberation, the nearly all-white jury found Travis McMichael, 35, who fired the shotgun, guilty on all nine counts, including malice murder and four counts of felony murder. His father, Gregory McMichael, 65, was found not guilty of malice murder but guilty of felony murder and all other charges.
After more than 10 hours of deliberation, the nearly all-white jury found Travis McMichael, 35, who fired the shotgun, guilty on all nine counts, including malice murder and four counts of felony murder. His father, Gregory McMichael, 65, was found not guilty of malice murder but guilty of felony murder and all other charges.
Malice murder: What were the charges and what do they mean?
The three men were arrested two months after the shooting, when Bryan's cellphone video of the incident became public and spurred nationwide outrage over what several high-profile figures called "a lynching." The killing fueled a growing nationwide movement against the treatment of Black people in the U.S., and the judge and attorneys in the case acknowledged the "racial overtones" of the trial.
In the courtroom Wednesday, the Rev. Al Sharpton held the hands of Arbery's parents, Marcus Arbery and Wanda Cooper-Jones, as the jurors entered the courtroom. Cooper-Jones mouthed a silent prayer as the judge readied to read the verdict.
Cheers erupted as the verdicts were read, and people cried and embraced one another. Deputies called for order. Travis McMichael mouthed "love you" to his mother, Leigh McMichael, who was crying.
"I’m floored, floored," Laura Hogue, one of Gregory McMichael’s lawyers, told Leigh McMichael as she sat in the courtroom gallery. Hogue told reporters she was "very disappointed."
Defense attorneys for all three men said they intend to appeal, which can only begin once sentencing is done. The judge did not immediately schedule a date for sentencing.
