Ahmaud Arbery's mother: Hate crimes plea deal is a betrayal
CTV
The son and father convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery have reached a plea agreement that could avoid their trial on federal hate crime charges. Arbery's parents denounced the deal as a betrayal, and called on the judge to reject it.
The proposed plea agreements with Travis and Greg McMichael were announced in court documents filed late Sunday by prosecutors for the U.S. Justice Department. There was no mention of a deal with the third defendant in the case, William "Roddie" Bryan.
No details were disclosed about the federal deals, which would not affect their state murder convictions in Arbery's killing. All three men were sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 7 after a trial last fall.
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones, said Monday that the deal would allow the McMichaels to serve their time in federal custody, avoiding the harsher conditions in Georgia prisons. He called the deals "a huge accomodation to the men who hunted down and murdered Ahmaud Arbery."
"Wanda Cooper Jones kept her promise to Ahmaud Arbery to get her son justice. Today the DOJ is attempting to 'snatch defeat from the jaws of victory'. We will not allow it," Merritt tweeted.
