Travis McMichael Wiki
Travis McMichael Biography
Who is Travis McMichael ?
A jury returned guilty verdicts against the three defendants in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia. Travis McMichael, who fired the fatal shots, was found guilty on all counts, including the murder charge of malice. His father Gregory McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted of felony murder and other charges.
Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot and killed
Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was shot and killed while jogging in the neighborhood in February 2020. Cell phone video showed men chasing Arbery and cornering him with their trucks before a fight that ended with Travis McMichael shooting him Arbery up close. he caught up with a shotgun.
When the first guilty verdict was read aloud, people in the public gallery could be heard gasping audibly. Marcus Arbery, Ahmaud Arbery’s father, could be heard saying, “It will be a long time,” before security personnel tell him to leave the courtroom. Judge Timothy Walmsley reminded the courtroom to keep quiet as he continued to read the rest of the jury verdicts aloud. [See below for a full breakdown of the charges against each defendant].
Mother
As he got up to leave the courtroom, Travis McMichael, his face flushed, said the words “I love you” to his mother.
The Associated Press reports that the three men face minimum sentences of life in prison. The judge will decide if that comes with or without the possibility of parole.
The sentencing date has not yet been set.
At a press conference after the verdict, Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said: “Ahmaud can now rest in peace.”
The defense’s case centered on the claim that the men acted legally under the state’s Citizen Arrest Law, which was in effect at the time but has since been repealed, because they suspected he might have been involved in robberies in the neighborhood. They argued that they had the right to self-defense against Arbery who, a defense attorney said, “chose to fight.”
The prosecution denied this and argued that the three men did not have a legitimate reason to pursue and confront Arbery.
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Attack
“The three defendants made assumptions, made assumptions about what was happening that day, and made the decision to attack Ahmaud Arbery in their driveways because he was a black man running down the street,” the lead prosecutor told the jury, Linda Dunikoski. .
Although Arbery had entered a home under construction in the neighborhood, “nothing had ever been removed from the construction site,” Dunikoski said, and the defendants had no direct knowledge linking him to any crime when they began their pursuit.
Killed
“He was trying to get away from these strangers who were yelling at him, threatening to kill him. And then they killed him,” he said, adding that Arbery was killed “for no good reason.”
The jury was able to hear Travis McMichael as he took the stand in his own defense. He stated that he had heard of raids in the neighborhood and that he had previously seen a black man “stalking” and “crawling” through a house under construction.
When his father saw Arbery on February 23, they decided to drive alongside him and question him. As the confrontation unfolded, McMichael said he was forced to make a “life and death” decision in a split second when he said that Arbery took his shotgun.
“It was the most traumatic event of my life,” he told the court.
But under questioning, McMichael acknowledged that Arbery was “just running” and did not threaten them.
The other two defendants did not testify at trial.
The three men also face federal hate crime charges. A separate trial in the federal case is scheduled to begin on February 7, 2022.
Source: https://wikisoon.com/
