Georgia dad, son sentenced to life for hate crimes in Ahmaud Arbery death; 3rd defendant gets 35 years 🎈SAVANNAH, Ga. — The three men serving life in prison for Ahmaud Arbery's murder were again handed lengthy prison sentences Monday on federal hate crime charges. 🎈Travis McMichael, who fatally shot Arbery, will serve his federal sentence of life plus 10 years. His father, Gregory, who initiated the deadly pursuit of the jogger, will serve life prison plus seven years. Their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan, who took a video of the killing, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. They will serve the federal sentences concurrently with the state time. The judge denied each man's request Monday to serve his sentences in federal prison. 🎈In February, a jury found that the three men, who are white, violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because of his race. Arbery was Black. 🎈Although the men are already serving life sentences, the additional punishments mark "an important moment for the Civil Rights Section of the Department of Justice and an important moment for the federal judiciary," said Ayesha Bell Hardaway, an associate professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and co-director of the school's Social Justice Institute. 🎈Arbery, 25, was killed Feb. 23, 2020, after the McMichaels grabbed guns and jumped in a truck to chase him after he ran past their home outside Brunswick. Bryan, 52, joined the chase in his own truck, helped block Arbery’s escape and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range as the men struggled. 🎈Prosecutors in the federal trial, which lasted a week, included evidence they said showed the men killed Arbery out of racial animus, such as racial slurs and repeated racist characterization of Black people who committed alleged crimes. Defense attorneys argued the McMichaels and Bryan pursued Arbery not because of his race but because of an earnest – though erroneous – suspicion that he had committed crimes in their neighborhood. 🎈The McMichaels and Bryan were found guilty of one count each of interference with rights and attempted kidnapping in February. The McMichaels were convicted of one count of using, carrying and brandishing – and firing, in Travis’ case – a gun during and in relation to a crime of violence. 🎈Arbery’s killing helped fuel a nationwide racial reckoning over the killings of unarmed Black people, including George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, two cases that also resulted in federal charges. Cre: USA TODAY