Federal prosecutors have reached a plea deal with two of the three Georgia men facing hate crimes charges in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, court documents show.
Details of the agreement were not included in the notice, but attorneys for the Department of Justice asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Georgia to "dispose" of the charges pending against father and son Gregory and Travis McMichael, according to documents filed late Sunday.
A notice of a plea deal was not filed for the third man charged in Arbery's death, William "Roddie" Bryan.
Earlier this month, the McMichaels and Bryan were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder and other crimes by a Georgia jury.
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Arbery's parents, said the deal would allow the McMichaels to serve the first 30 years of their sentence in federal prison, which he called "a huge accommodation" because federal prisons are generally less crowded, better funded and safer, according to the statement posted online.
Merritt said Arbery's parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, are "vehemently" opposed to the deal and plan to oppose the plea before the court Monday.
"It's disrespectful," Cooper-Jones said at a brief press conference outside the courthouse Monday. "I've fought so hard to get these men in state prison."
Arbery's father called for "100 percent justice" for his son. "I don't want no chance to make their lives easier," he said.
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The three men were charged with federal hate crimes and attempted kidnapping after they chased Arbery, 25, in trucks while he was running through the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia, on Feb. 23, 2020. At the time of Arbery's murder, Georgia did not have a hate crime law.
Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery during the confrontation, and Gregory McMichael also faced additional federal charges for using firearms during the crime.
Earlier this month, Travis McMichael, 35, and Gregory McMichael, 65, were sentenced to life plus 20 years without the possibility of parole. Their neighbor Bryan, 52, who filmed the killing, received life in prison with the possibility of parole in 30 years.
If the men were to be convicted in the federal hate crimes trial, which was scheduled to begin Feb. 7, they could have faced additional life sentences.
Officials from the Department of Justice and Travis McMichael's attorney did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the details of the plea agreement. A.J. Balbo, an attorney for Greg McMichael, declined to comment on a pending case.
While some minimum security federal prisons have a reputation for being lenient on defendants, it's unlikely someone convicted of murder would end up in one of those facilities, said Tim Floyd, a criminal law professor at Mercer University in Georgia.
"I'd hate to generalize that one would be a lot worse than the other," Floyd said. "They're facing a tough situation wherever they end up serving their sentence."
While prosecutors typically consider the wishes of surviving family members, ultimately the attorneys and the judge have final say on plea deals, Floyd noted.
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Floyd said the plea deal is may be beneficial to federal prosecutors because it ensures the defendants will serve prison time even if they are able to appeal their state court conviction.
"It's sort of a guarantee for the prosecutors at both the state and federal level that if they get them to plead guilty, then they're going to spend basically the rest of their life in prison either way," he said. "It's much more difficult to succeed in an appeal from a guilty plea than from a trial."
The deal could also be beneficial to Bryan who may now stand trial alone, Floyd said. Bryan's lawyer, Kevin Gough, moved several times during the state murder trial to separate his case from the McMichaels.
Meanwhile on Monday, U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood continued preparations to summon the first 50 potential jurors to the courthouse for questioning.
Contributing: Raisa Habersham, Savannah Morning News; The Associated Press
Follow N'dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
