Arbery’s family flatly rejected the possibility of the deal being approved.
Foto:
Sean Rayford / Getty Images
US District Judge Lisa G. Wood on Monday rejected a plea deal reached by prosecutors and Travis McMichael on hate crime charges., a plan that may have prevented his federal trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
Previously, McMichael agreed to plead guilty to a single hate crime charge in exchange for prosecutors recommending that he serve 30 years in federal prison.
Under the terms of the agreement, McMichael, 36, would have been transferred from state prison to federal custody, to later complete that sentence. He would be returned to Georgia to finish his life in prison without a sentence of parole.
But nevertheless, Federal Judge Wood said she was not comfortable with the sentencing guidelines in that deal, CNN reviewed.
A separate ruling on the plea deal for Gregory McMichael, Travis’s father, was expected at a hearing that was scheduled to begin 45 minutes after the first court session.
But after the judge rejected the plea deal, the McMichaels’ attorneys asked for more time. to decide whether to change their guilty pleas.
Meanwhile, Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother, said she was angry about the proposed settlement, telling the court that a state judge gave the McMichaels what they deserved after they were convicted on state charges, for which she asked Wood not accept it.
“Please listen to me,” Cooper-Jones pleaded with the judge. “Giving these men their preferred conditions of confinement would defeat me. It gives them one last chance to spit in my face after murdering my son.“.
S. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery’s mother, told CNN Monday that Arbery’s family was upset that prosecutors agreed to the deal without their consent.
For her part, Deputy Attorney General Kristen Clarke stressed that the Department of Justice respects the court’s decision not to accept the plea agreement, but noted in a statement that prosecutors entered the agreement after being told by lawyers for the victims that the family did not object.
The trial is scheduled for next Monday with the start of jury selection. If the case goes to trial, the McMichaels face up to life in prison.
In early January, Gregory and Travis McMichael were convicted in state court of Arbery’s murder after he was shot while fleeing the McMichaels, an incident in which William “Roddie” Bryan was present, convicted and sentenced to prison. life, but with the possibility of parole.
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eldiariony.com
Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.