From [HERE] A Georgia judge sentenced three men to life in prison Friday for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, whom the men confronted and killed while he was running in their neighborhood in early 2020.

Travis McMichael chased Mr. Arbery with his father Gregory McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan Jr. in two pickup trucks on Feb. 23, 2020. Travis McMichael shot Mr. Arbery three times with a 12-gauge shotgun, killing him.

A jury in Brunswick, Ga., convicted the men on Nov. 24 of multiple murder charges each. Travis McMichael is 35 years old, Gregory McMichael is 66 and Mr. Bryan is 52.

The McMichaels each received a life sentence without possibility of parole. Mr. Bryan was sentenced to life with the chance of parole.

Mr. Arbery “was killed because individuals in this courtroom took the law into their own hands,” said State Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley as he pronounced the sentences. “Taking the law into your own hands is a dangerous endeavor.”

The three men, wearing masks because of the Covid-19 pandemic, showed no emotion as they were sentenced. None spoke at a hearing before the sentencing.

Mr. Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was unarmed when he was confronted by the McMichaels in Satilla Shores, a predominantly white residential area outside Brunswick, Ga. 

Prosecutors argued that Mr. Arbery, who was living a few miles away, was out for a run that day and that the defendants, who are white, hunted him down based on unfounded suspicions that he was a neighborhood thief.

On Friday, at the hearing, Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski asked the court for the McMichaels to receive life in prison without the possibility of parole and asked for Mr. Bryan to receive life in prison with a possibility of parole.

Family members of Mr. Arbery asked the court to impose life in prison without the possibility of parole for all three men.

“The man who killed my son has sat in this courtroom every single day next to his father,” Marcus Arbery, the victim’s father, told the court before sentencing. “I’ll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again.”

At trial, defense attorneys argued that the men had good reasons to suspect Mr. Arbery was responsible for burglaries and thefts and they sought to detain him for police.

On Friday, before sentencing, lawyers for the defendants argued that the judge should grant the men the possibility of parole because of their good works in the community for years before the shooting, and because the lawyers said the men didn’t intend to kill Mr. Arbery. 

Mr. Arbery’s death drew national attention after a video showing the fatal shooting circulated, with many Black civil-rights groups and leaders calling it an example of racist vigilantism. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton both attended the trial in support of the Arbery family. The case put laws authorizing citizen’s arrests under scrutiny and led to the passage of a hate-crime law in Georgia.

The three men also face a coming federal trial. The U.S. Justice Department has charged the men with violating Mr. Arbery’s right to use a public street because of his race and attempted kidnapping in connection with the killing. The Justice Department has also charged the McMichaels, who were both armed during the incident, with use of a firearm during a crime of violence. 

The defendants have pleaded not guilty.