JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A judge has rejected a plea deal for two of the men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery
The judge rejected the terms of Greg and Travis McMichaels' deal after hearing four family members' impassioned pleas to reject the deal they said they disagree with.
This comes after a routine Monday hearing in the federal hate crimes trial of the three men who murdered Arbery became a surprise hearing on a plea deal, following a late filing in the case Sunday.
The deal would have permitted father and son to serve the first 30 years of their life sentences in a federal facility, instead of a Georgia prison, in exchange for a guilty plea. A family attorney says they “vehemently objected” to the deal.
Lee Merritt, Ahmaud Arbery family attorney, says the men have been in talks with the Department of Justice regarding a potential plea deal. However, he said talks ended without agreement.
The McMichaels were convicted along with their former neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan of first-degree murder in the 2020 killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man they chased through their South Georgia neighborhood and shot to death. They were all sentenced to life in state prison.
In addition to the state charges, the men also face hate crimes charges in federal court, which is the subject of the plea deal. The proposed plea deal does not include Bryan.
Speaking to First Coast News before Monday’s hearing, Merritt said the Department of Justice began discussions with Arbery's parents, Marcus Arbery Sr. and Wanda Cooper Jones, on Sunday morning.
Merritt says the DOJ plea deal for their hate crimes proposes both the McMichaels enter federal custody and serve the first 30 years of their sentences in federal prison if they admit they were motivated by hate. Merritt says the McMichaels “jumped” at the deal, but nothing has been finalized.
“At the meeting, both parents learned about the plea deal learned that it would allow these men to transfer to federal custody, and vehemently objected to agreeing to such an accommodation.”
He said the DOJ “tried to convince the Arbury family that their interests were being served by the plea agreement because the confession would make it more difficult [for the men] to appeal their state sentence and would add a level of clarity about what caused on these men to murder Ahmaud Arbery.”
Merritt said the family is “less interested in what caused them to murder their son and more interested in the conditions of their confinement for the murder of their son.”
He said “these men jumped at the opportunity to transfer into federal custody, from the more rigorous state custody, in exchange for the statement that they were motivated by hatred by racial animus when murdering Ahmaud Arbery.
Merritt said there was “a lot of back and forth where the DOJ convinced tried to convince them that that was the right thing to do. And the parties ended the discussions without agreement.”
“This is an example of the Department of Justice literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,” Merritt said.
Absent a plea deal, the trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 7. While race did not play a significant role in the state murder trial of Bryan and his neighbors, Greg and Travis McMichael, it will be the centerpiece of their hate crimes trial.
First Coast News has a reporter in federal court and will update this story when the hearing concludes. Cameras are not allowed in federal court.
It’s unclear how long jury selection for the federal trial will take. Nearly 1,000 people were summoned for duty during their state murder case back in November, which dragged out for days.
The huge number illustrates the challenge of finding impartial jurors for a case with national attention.
The potential jurors will face a barrage of questions by lawyers to determine if they are capable of fairly deciding the case based on the evidence presented in court.