A judge sentenced three men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery to life in prison.
According to NBC News, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley said Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory McMichael, were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
Their neighbor, William ‘Roddie’ Bryan, will be eligible for parole.
Arbery’s parents and sister urged the judge to give his murderers the maximum punishment, as NBC News reported.
“The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father. I’ll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again. Not at a general table. Not at a holiday. And not at a wedding,” Abery’s father, Marcus Arbery, said.
He added, “Not only did they lynch my son in broad daylight, but they killed him while he was doing what he loved” more “than anything — running. That’s when he felt most alive, most free. And they took all that from him.”
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said to the judge, “Your honor, these men have chosen to lie and attack my son and his surviving family.”
She continued, “They each have no remorse and do not deserve any leniency. This wasn’t a case of mistaken identity or mistaken fact. They chose to target my son because they didn’t want him in their community. They chose to treat him differently than other people who frequently visited their community. And when they couldn’t sufficiently scare him or intimidate him, they killed him.”
As BBC News notes, Arbery went for a run on February 23, 2020, when the McMichaels pursued Arbery in a pickup truck. Bryan later joined them in pursuing Arbery.
McMichael proceeded to fire his shotgun at Arbery during a struggle. He said it was an act of self-defense, claiming Arbery tried to grab his gun.
According to the outlet, an autopsy found two gunshot wounds in Arbery’s chest.