Men convicted in Ahmaud Arbery's murder ask for new trial

Posted By: Staff
October 24, 2024 @ 11:48 am
ABC National

Ahmaud Arbery, Courtesy Arbery family

(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — The three Georgia men convicted in the 2020 killing of 25-year-old jogger Ahmaud Arbery are in court Thursday to ask for a new trial in the murder case.

One of the men, Travis McMichael, claimed that he and his father suspected Arbery — who had been jogging through the neighborhood — had just burglarized a nearby home under construction. He testified that Arbery resisted a citizen’s arrest and attacked him after he, his father Gregory McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan chased him.

Travis McMichael, who delivered the deadly shot, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

He was convicted on all nine charges: malice murder, four counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a shotgun, aggravated assault with a pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.

Gregory McMichael was also sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The former Georgia police officer was found not guilty of malice murder but was convicted on the remaining charges, including the felony murder counts.

Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. He was found guilty of three of the felony murder counts as well as charges of aggravated assault with his pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.

The arrests came after a cellphone video Bryan took of the confrontation that captured part of the shooting and was heavily used by both prosecutors and defense attorneys during the trial was leaked to the media despite Bryan having turned it over to Glynn County police on the day of the killing.

The McMichaels and Bryan had all pleaded not guilty to a nine-count state indictment. ABC News has reached out for comment from their legal teams on the request for a new trial.

The three men also have been convicted and sentenced on federal hate crime charges. The McMichaels were sentenced to life in prison. Bryan was sentenced to 35 years.

Gregory McMichael apologized to Arbery’s family in court following the federal sentencing: “I’m sure my words mean very little to you but I want to assure you I never wanted any of this to happen,” he said. “There was no malice in my heart or my son’s heart that day.”

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to the report.