Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced all three convicted in the Ahmaud Arbery’s death to life imprisonment. While the McMichaels, Gregory and Travis, have been ordered to serve life without parole, William Bryan was granted a chance, but must first serve at least 30 years in prison.

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The guilty verdicts against the men were handed down in November, a day before Thanksgiving. All three men were also convicted of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. Maximum prison terms for those counts range from five to 20 years. The judge was likely to allow those additional penalties to be served simultaneously with the life sentences for murder.

Ahead of the sentencing, Judge Walmsley observed a minute of silence, saying that it represents a fraction of the time that Ahmaud Arbery was running in Satilla Shores. 

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“That one minute,” he said, before going silent.

“When I thought about this, I thought from a lot of different angles, and I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores,” he said.

The judge began the sentencing by saying that, in his opinion, ‘a neighbour is more than the people who just own property around your house’. He further added that ‘our definition of what a neighbour of what our may be and how we treat them’ needs to be expanded. 

He also warned that ‘sentencing does not generally provide closure’ and that for Arbery’s family, that was unfortunate.

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“In this case, I think many people are seeking closure. The mother, the father, the community, and maybe even parts of the nation, but closure is hard to define and is a granular concept. It’s seen differently by all depending on their perspective and the prism of your lives,” Walmsley said.

Putting forward his observations, Judge Timothy Walmsley said that Ahmaud Arbery was hunted down and shot. He described the events that led to the shooting and commented on the remarks made by all the three convicts. 

“In my opinion, Greg McMichael very early on in this tried to establish a narrative. He made comments like ‘Ahmaud Arbery was trapped like a rat,’ ‘stop or I’ll blow your — and I won’t repeat it again — head off.’ Effectively admitted that he wasn’t sure what Ahmaud Arbery had done wrong,” Walmsley said.

“Travis McMichael claims he was in shock, but it’s interesting because he talks about his concern for his child and his own well-being. Part of this was while the victim was actually laying there in the street,” the judge said.

“Mr. Bryan, he joined in, after calling out to the McMichaels ‘you all got him,’ claimed he didn’t know what was going on. But obviously wanted to know if this individual who was running through the neighborhood who he didn’t know had been caught in some way,” the judge continued.

He said these quotes give context to video of the killing presented in court during the trial.