Ahmaud Arbery Murder | DOJ Chief Kristen Clarke “Family Wasn’t Opposed” To Plea Deal
Ahmaud Arbery Murder | DOJ Chief Kristen Clarke Said In a Statement That “Family Wasn’t Opposed” To Plea Deal
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Ahmaud Arbery Murder | Brunswick, Georgia — On Monday 31 January 2022, a judge denied a plea deal that was proposed for father and son Travis McMichael And Gregory McMichael.
A Judge denied the plea deals for two of the convicted murderers of Ahmaud Arbery. The plea deal would have make them admit that their actions towards Ahmaud Arbery which resulted in his death, were racially motivated.
In exchange for the plea deals, which were agreed upon with prosecutors, Travis and Gregory McMichael would have avoided spending their sentences in a state prison as
well as avoiding their Federal trial on hate crime charges.
The DOJ has gone behind my back to offer the men who murdered my son a deal to make their time in prison easier for them to serve
Wanda Cooper-Jones (Ahmaud’s Mother)
Wanda Cooper-Jones, Ahmaud’s mother has, from the beginning, been verbally and firmly opposed to any kind of plea deals regarding her son’s murderers. Already, on 7 January, she rejected a plea deal.
I have made it clear at every possible moment that I do not agree to offer these men a plea deal of any kind. I have been completely betrayed by the DOJ lawyers.
Wanda Cooper-Jones
Lee Merritt Attorney for the family, referred to the plea agreement as a “back room deal” and said “This is an example of the Department of Justice literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory”.
On Monday the judge rejected these deals. As such, murderers Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael will serve their sentences in a state prison as opposed to a federal prison as per the deals.
Since the judge rejected the terms of the agreement, the McMichaels counsel requested until Friday to consider whether to move ahead with a guilty plea that he tried to enter on Monday.
If the McMichaels do not plead guilty, they will go to trial next Monday 7 February.
DOJ Chief Kristen Clarke released a statement asserting that the victims attorneys told the prosecutors “the family was not opposed” to the plea agreement for Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers before signing.
Lee Merritt said that, transferring the McMichaels to a federal prison equated to “a country club” in comparison to state correctional facilities.
The Federal trial — the final pretrial conference is set for 31 January. Jury selection in the federal hate crimes trial is scheduled to start 7 February at 10am.
The McMichaels will face hate crime charges in federal court with prosecutors saying they violated Arbery’s civil rights, unjustly pursuing and threatening him on a public street because he was Black.
Evidence of racism that the state prosecutors chose not to share at the murder state trial last year is expected to be front and center in this trial.
An FBI agent testified that they saw evidence that Travis McMichael referred to Black people as “monkeys”, “savages” and “ni**ers” ; and expressed the desire for crimes to be committed against African-Americans.
A Judge already said the jury pool for the federal trial can be expended to include people from more than 40 Georgia counties. The jury trial selection is expected to last three weeks.
On 7 January, Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael were sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
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