Arbery killer withdraws guilty plea in hate crimes case after plea deal rejected

Travis McMichael, the man who shot and killed Ahmaud Arbery, has withdrawn his guilty plea in the hate crime case against him after a judge rejected his plea deal. 

In court Friday, McMichael told U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood he would revoke his guilty plea and go to trial. The trial will focus on if McMichael’s killing of Arbery was motivated by race, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

The change in plea follows his father, Gregory McMichael, also flipping to a not guilty plea on Thursday. 

The father’s and son’s change in pleas occurred after Wood rejected a plea deal worked out with prosecutors. The details of the plea deal were not released, but Arbery’s family was against it. 

Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, will all stand trial Monday, according to the newspaper. It is not clear if Bryan was ever offered a deal. 

All the men were convicted of Arbery’s murder in 2021. The McMichaels received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, while Bryan got a life sentence with a parole possibility. 

The three men chased Arbery down in February 2020 while he was jogging through a neighborhood, with Travis McMichael shooting and killing him with a shotgun. Travis McMichael admitted during the murder trial he pursued Arbery because of his race.

The hate crime and kidnapping charges could add additional life sentences to the three men’s convictions.