Federal District Judge Lisa G. Wood on Monday rejected the plea agreement reached by prosecutors and Travis McMichael on hate crime charges, a plan that could have prevented his federal trial for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.
McMichael previously agreed to plead guilty to a single hate crime charge in exchange for prosecutors recommending that he comply 30 years in federal prison.
Under the terms of the settlement, McMichael, of 36 years, would have been transferred from state prison to federal custody, to later complete that sentence, and would be returned to Georgia to finish his life in jail without a sentence of parole.
However, Federal Judge Wood said she was not comfortable with the guidelines of that deal, CNN reported.
A separate ruling on the plea deal for Gregory McMichael, father of Travis, was expected at a hearing that was scheduled to begin 45 minutes after the first session court case.
But after the judge rejected the plea deal, the McMichaels’ attorneys requested more time to decide whether to change their 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 to accept it.
“Please listen to me,” Cooper begged. Jones to 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, Arbery’s mother’s attorney, told CNN Monday that Arbery’s family was upset that prosecutors accepted the deal without their consent.
For her part, the attorney general Deputy Kristen Clarke stressed that the Justice Department respects the court’s decision not to accept the plea deal, but noted in a statement that prosecutors entered the plea deal after being told by attorneys for the victims that the family did not accept the plea deal. was opposed.
The trial is scheduled for next Monday with the start of jury selection. If the case goes to trial, the McMichaels face 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. , incident where William “Roddie” Bryan was present, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but with the possibility of parole.