One of the men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery fears for his life in Georgia state prison, according to court documents filed by his attorney.
Travis McMichael, 36, his father, Gregory McMichael, and neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan were convicted on state murder charges in connection with the 2020 shooting death of Arbery in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick, Ga. The trio thought Arbery, a Black man, was a burglar and chased him down as he was jogging through their neighbourhood.
The McMichaels were sentenced to life in prison without parole, while Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.
The three men were also found guilty of federal hate crimes in February.
Ahead of the sentencing hearing on Monday, attorney for Travis McMichael, Amy Lee Copeland filed a memo requesting that he be kept in federal custody, rather than be transferred to the Georgia state prison, because he fears for his life.
McMichael has been held in the Glynn County Detention Center since his arrest in May 2020. Copeland told the court that he has received threats that people “are ‘waiting for him,’ that he should not go into the yard, and that correctional officers have promised a willingness (whether for pay or for free) to keep certain doors unlocked and backs turned to allow inmates to harm him,” according to CNN.
McMichael, Copeland says, had received hundreds of death threats and “quit counting in January 2022, at around 800.”
“His concern is that he will promptly be killed upon delivery to the state prison system for service of that sentence: He has received numerous threats of death that are credible in light of all circumstances, and the government has a pending investigation into the Georgia DOC’s ability to keep inmates safe in a system where murder rates have tripled,” the memo said.
In January, a federal judge rejected a plea deal reached by prosecutors and Travis McMichael that would have allowed him to serve 30 years in federal prison in exchange for pleading guilty to one hate crime charge — interference with rights.
Arbery’s family opposed the possibility of the killers serving their time in federal prison instead of state prison.
