Ahmaud Arbery’s mother has hit out at the Department of Justice and said she had to fight to see her son’s three murderers go to federal trial, after a jury returned a guilty verdict on all hate crimes charges.
Wanda Cooper-Jones told reporters that, while Tuesday’s conviction of Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan is a “victory”, federal prosecutors only did what “they were made to do” because the judge had rejected their plea deal.
“What the DOJ did today they were made to do today,” she said.
“It wasn’t because of what they wanted to do. They were made to do their job today.”
Last month, just days before the federal hate crimes trial was due to start, prosecutors reached a plea agreement with Travis and Gregory McMichael against the wishes of the Arbery family.
Under the deal, the father, 66, and son, 36, agreed to plead guilty to hate crimes charges and be sentenced to 30 years in prison in exchange for being moved to a federal prison.
The McMichaels and Bryan, 52, are already behind bars in state prison after being found guilty of Arbery’s murder at their state trial back in November.
Arbery’s family said they did not want the killers to be able to serve their sentences in a federal facility, which are widely known to be comfier and better funded than state facilities.
Several family members took the stand and urged US District Judge Lisa Godbey to reject the deal while prosecutors continued to ask for it to be accepted, in defiance of the family’s pleas.
The judge ultimately turned the deal down, saying she was not willing to be bound by the sentencing terms of the agreement and paving the way for all three killers to proceed to trial.
On Tuesday, they were each found guilty of all hate crime charges after it took a jury only around three hours to determine that they pursued and murdered the Black jogger because of his race.
Outside the courthouse following the verdict, Ms Cooper-Jones condemned the actions of the DOJ which almost led to two of the murderers not standing trial.
She addressed the Justice Department directly, saying she was “very thankful” that they brought the federal hate crimes charges but said that the verdict would never have happened “if it wasn’t for the fight that the family put up” against the plea deal.
“I now want to address the members of the DOJ. I’m very thankful that you guys brought these charges of hate crime. But back on January 31 you guys accepted a plea deal with these three murderers who took my son’s life,” she said.
She told how she had met with the lead prosecutors in the case ahead of the agreement and was “begging them to please not take this plea deal”.
“They ignored my cry,” she said, explaining that prosecutors asked the judge to accept the deal anyway.
“I begged them. Even after the family stood before the judge and asked them, asked the judge to not take this plea deal, the lead prosecutor, Tara Lyons, stood up and asked the judge to ignore the family’s cry,” she said.
“That’s not justice for Ahmaud.”
While they may be prosecutors, she said, “the one thing they didn’t have was a son that was lying in a cold grave and they still didn’t hear my cry”, adding that she will never be able to “heal” following the murder of her son.
Lee Merritt, the attorney for Arbery’s family, told The Independent just before the trial started that the hate crimes trial was important to both the family and the wider civil rights community because it would shine a spotlight on the racist motivations for the Black man’s murder.
“We want them to confess or for the truth to come out on record that they were motivated by hate,” he said at the time.
“That’s important in the civil rights community.”
The potential plea deal and move to federal prison threatened to snatch the “victory” achieved through the state trail back from Arbery’s family, he said.
“I don’t want to see this victory taken away from Ahmaud’s family and the Brunswick community,” he said.
During the federal trial, jurors were shown multiple examples of racist language used by all three defendants in the likes of social media posts, messages and comments made to friends prior to Arbery’s murder.
Prosecutors said the use of racial slurs and attitudes toward Black people showed that the three white men were motivated by race when they targeted Arbery.
Bryan was found guilty of two counts of interfering with Arbery’s civil rights to use a public street because of his race and attempted kidnapping.
The McMichaels were convicted of three counts each – the same two charges as Bryan and an additional firearms charge of using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence.
The verdict came just one day before the two-year anniversary of Arbery’s murder which led to calls for racial justice nationwide.
A sentencing date has not yet been set for the federal charges.
Each charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Travis and Gregory McMichael are already serving life in prison without the possibility of parole on their state charges.
Bryan is serving life with the possibility of parole, making him eligible for release after 30 years in prison.
The three white men chased Arbery through the Satilla Shores neighbourhood of Georgia in their pickup trucks before Travis McMichael shot him dead in the road back on 23 February 2020.
