A federal judge rejected a plea deal Monday afternoon that would have allowed one of the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery to avoid a federal hate crime trial and said she would deny a deal with another of the men.
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood heard arguments Monday from Arbery’s family and prosecutors after the Department of Justice struck plea deals with Arbery’s killers Gregory and Travis McMichael over the weekend.
Wood tossed out the plea agreement made with Travis McMichael, the man who fatally shot Arbery. The judge said she would also reject the agreement made with his father, Gregory McMichael, so his plea hearing was canceled.
Wood gave both McMichaels an option to move forward with their guilty pleas, which could result in a harsher sentence if convicted. Their decisions on how to plead have to be made by Friday, according to the judge.
Arbery’s family was outraged that the plea deals would have allowed the McMichaels to serve time in federal prison instead of the Georgia state system.
“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, said during the court hearing on Monday.
“Ahmaud did not get an option of a plea; Ahmaud was killed. Ahmaud was hunted down. My son was killed. I am asking you on behalf of my family, please do not accept this deal,” Cooper-Jones said.
The McMichaels, who were convicted in November in a Georgia state court of murdering Arbery, reached the plea agreements Sunday night in the federal hate crimes case related to the killing.
The plea agreements came as a surprise to Arbery’s family, said family attorney Lee Merritt. The deals, according to Merritt, would have allowed the McMichaels to serve their first 30 years of the life sentences they received in Arbery’s murder trial in federal prison. Merritt described it as a softer punishment since federal facilities are “safer, less crowded and more orderly” than Georgia prisons.
The agreements made no mention of William “Roddie” Bryan, who is also charged with a hate crime in Arbery’s murder. All three men were convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 7. Bryan received the possibility of getting parole.
“The DOJ has gone behind my back to offer the men who murdered my son a deal to make their time in prison easier for them to serve. I have made it clear at every possible moment that I do not agree to offer these men a plea deal of any kind,” Cooper-Jones said before the court proceedings Monday. “I have been completely betrayed by DOJ lawyers.”
Merritt said Arbery’s family has “worked hard” to make sure the McMichaels spend the rest of their lives in state custody. He called the DOJ agreements a “back room” deal and said they represented a “betrayal” to the “Arbery family who is devastated” about the 25-year-old’s murder.
“Federal prison is a country club when compared to state prison. Federal prisons are less populated, better funded and generally more accommodating than state prisons. These men hurriedly entered this plea deal that would allow them to transfer out of custody from GA prison,” Merritt said on Twitter late Sunday night.
“In essence they get to publicly brag about their hatred & then be rewarded by the federal government,” he added.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the Department of Justice brought the plea agreement negotiations to the Arbery family’s attorneys and that they were told the family was not opposed to the agreements.
“We respect the court’s decision to not accept the sentencing terms of the proposed plea and to continue the hearing until Friday. The Justice Department takes seriously its obligation to confer with the Arbery family and their lawyers both pursuant to the Crime Victim Rights Act and out of respect for the victim,” Clarke said in a statement.
“Before signing the proposed agreement reflecting the defendants’ confessions to federal hate crimes charges, the Civil Rights Division consulted with the victims’ attorneys. The Justice Department entered the plea agreement only after the victims’ attorneys informed me that the family was not opposed to it,” the statement continued.
The federal hate crimes trial is set to begin on Feb. 7. Jury selection is expected to last up to three weeks.
The federal hate crime charges accuse the McMichaels and Bryan of violating Arbery’s rights on Feb. 23, 2020, the day they chased and killed him. Both the McMichaels were armed while in a pickup truck chasing Arbery. Bryan followed.
During the state trial, the defense argued the men had reasonable suspicion to follow Arbery that day, while prosecutors said the men made decisions based on “assumptions.”
National outrage followed Arbery’s murder in 2020 after the video of the deadly chase surfaced and spread on social media.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify that only Travis McMichael’s plea deal was rejected at the time of publication.