Judge rejects plea deal with Ahmaud Arbery’s killer

A federal judge on Monday rejected a plea agreement between federal prosecutors and the man convicted of shooting Ahmaud Arbery.

U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood rejected a plea agreement for Travis McMichael, who has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Arbery, in a separate federal hate crimes trial set for next week, Reuters reported.

Judges very rarely reject plea agreements, Reuters noted, doing so only if they believe the agreement does not address the crime, the victim’s rights or the public’s interest.

McMichael and his father Gregory McMichael were convicted in November along with their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, who recorded the shooting and events leading up to it.

In February 2020, the McMichaels and Bryan chased Arbery in a truck while he was jogging through their neighborhood. Shortly after they confronted him with a shotgun, Travis McMichael shot Arbery three times.

McMichael admitted that he chased Arbery and shot him, but claimed self-defense and pled not guilty to the murder charges.

McMichael for the first time admitted that he pursued Arbery because of his race, and was attempting to change his plea to guilty in the federal trial, as part of the agreement rejected by Woods.

Earlier this month, Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced all three men to life in prison, with both McMichaels sentenced without the possibility of parole. 

Arbery’s family opposed the plea agreement for the McMichaels, with the attorney for Arbery’s mother Wanda Cooper-Jones, S. Lee Merritt, saying she was “devastated” by the deal. The details of the agreement have not been publicly disclosed.

“This back room deal represents a betrayal to the Arbery family who is devastated,” Merritt said.