BRUNSWICK, Ga., Aug 8 (Reuters) - A judge sentenced Travis McMichael to life in prison on Monday for committing federal hate crimes in the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man shot while jogging through a mostly white Georgia neighborhood in a case that probed issues of racist violence & vigilantism in America.
U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood sentenced McMichael, 36,who was convicted of murder in an earlier trial.
McMichael, his father Gregory McMichael, 66, & their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan, 52, were found guilty in February of violating Arbery's civil rights by attacking him because of his race & of attempted kidnapping. Gregory McMichael & Bryan are scheduled to be sentenced later in the day.
At the first hearing, Marcus Arbery, the slain man's father, asked the judge to sentence the younger McMichael to serve the maximum in state prison on the federal charges.
"These 3 devils have broken my heart into pieces that cannot be found or repaired," Marcus Arbery said. "You hate Black people."
Travis McMichael declined his chance to testify on Monday, but his lawyer said a Georgia state prison was too dangerous for him & that he had received death threats.
The 3 previously were convicted last November in state court of murder, aggravated assault, false imprisonment & criminal intent to commit a felony for chasing and shooting Arbery as he ran in their neighborhood near Brunswick, with a jury rejecting self-defense claims.
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