Three Americans sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of black jogger
Judge Timothy Walmsley during the closing arguments
What: REUTERS
The case was not made public until a cell phone video: In February 2020, the black jogger Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed by three white men in the US state of Georgia. The court did not follow their argument that they had taken him for a burglar.
KLess than two years following the fatal shooting of the black jogger Ahmaud Arbery in the US state of Georgia, the three perpetrators have been sentenced to life imprisonment. Judge Timothy Walmsley announced the sentence on Friday in the city of Brunswick once morest the white men convicted of the murder in November. The judge ruled out early release for two of the men.
The now 35-year-old Travis McMichael, his father Gregory and their neighbor William Bryan had followed the jogging Arbery on February 23, 2020 in a suburb of Brunswick with two cars. The defense argued that the men mistook him for a burglar. In a scuffle that followed, Travis McMichael, who was armed with a rifle, shot and killed the 25-year-old African American.
The case didn’t become public until two and a half months later when a cell phone video of the chase and Arbery’s death became public. The recordings caused outrage across the country. Arbery became a symbol of the Black Lives Matter protests once morest racism in the United States, along with blacks killed by police officers such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Last November, a jury found the three men guilty of murder and other charges. Now the sentence has been announced. While the McMichaels were sentenced to life imprisonment with no early release option, Judge Walmsley recognized extenuating circumstances in their neighbor Bryan.
This means that he has a chance of early release – but only following 30 years in prison. The three men can still appeal their conviction.
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