Prosecutors have made plea deals with Gregory McMichael and his son Travis, who were convicted in a state court of murdering jogger Ahmaud Arbery, in the federal hate crime case against the two men, NBC News reports. Details of the plea bargain were not made public, but Arbery's parents said they were against an federal deal for the McMichaels because they believed it to be a huge accommodation to the men to be able to serve time in a "preferred" federal prison.
The McMichaels, both white, were sentenced to life without parole earlier this month for killing Arbery, a 25-year-old black man. The two men and their neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, pursued and shot Arbery as he was jogging in their Georgia neighborhood. They were indicted in a federal hate crime case to determine if the murder was motivated by hatred. The men also face charges of brandishing firearms and attempted kidnapping. Bryan was not mentioned in the report on the new plea deal.