The pursuit
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery was running through the Satilla Shores neighborhood outside Brunswick. Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael armed themselves, entered a pickup truck and pursued him. Neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan joined the chase in another vehicle.
The federal trial record later established that the three men used their trucks to pursue, block and try to confine Arbery on public streets. The Justice Department's account of the evidence states that Arbery repeatedly tried to get away, was unarmed and did not threaten the men. The pursuit ended in a confrontation in which Travis McMichael shot Arbery.
Why arrests did not come immediately
The killing did not immediately produce arrests. The case drew national scrutiny after Bryan's cellphone video of the final confrontation became public in May 2020. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation, and the McMichaels were arrested that month; Bryan was arrested later in May.
The delay became an important part of the public history of the case, but it is separate from the later criminal findings against the three defendants. This page therefore does not treat controversies surrounding the early prosecutorial response as proof of criminal misconduct by any official unless separately established in court.
Georgia murder trial
A state jury returned verdicts in November 2021. Travis McMichael was convicted on all nine counts he faced, including malice murder and felony murder. Gregory McMichael and Bryan were acquitted of malice murder but convicted of felony murder and other offenses tied to the pursuit and killing.
On January 7, 2022, Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley sentenced Travis and Gregory McMichael to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, with additional terms. Bryan received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after serving the statutory minimum period applicable to the judgment.
A separate federal hate-crime case
The federal prosecution asked a different legal question: whether the defendants interfered with Arbery's federally protected right to use a public street because of his race, and whether they attempted to kidnap him during the chase.
On February 22, 2022, a federal jury convicted all three men of interference with rights and attempted kidnapping. The jury also convicted Travis and Gregory McMichael on firearm counts. According to the Justice Department, the trial included evidence of racist statements and messages, and the jury found beyond a reasonable doubt that race was a but-for cause of the defendants' actions.
In August 2022, the federal court sentenced Travis McMichael to life plus ten years, Gregory McMichael to life plus seven years, and Bryan to 35 years.
The federal appeal
The defendants appealed the federal convictions. They challenged, among other things, whether the evidence was sufficient to prove the required racial motivation and whether the federal statutes applied to the circumstances of the chase.
On November 14, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the federal convictions. The court concluded that sufficient evidence supported the jury's findings and rejected the defendants' evidentiary and statutory challenges.
That appellate decision did not create the state murder convictions; it left the separate federal judgments in place. Likewise, the existence of post-trial litigation does not convert the defendants back into untried suspects. The state and federal convictions described above remain judgments of conviction unless and until a court overturns them.
Timeline
February 23, 2020: Ahmaud Arbery is pursued through Satilla Shores and fatally shot.
May 2020: video of the killing becomes public; Georgia authorities make arrests in the case.
November 24, 2021: a Georgia jury convicts Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan of murder-related charges.
January 7, 2022: the McMichaels receive life without parole; Bryan receives life with the possibility of parole after the applicable minimum period.
February 22, 2022: a federal jury convicts all three men of hate crimes and attempted kidnapping.
August 8, 2022: federal sentences are imposed.
November 14, 2025: the Eleventh Circuit affirms the federal convictions.
Current status
The case is solved / adjudicated. All three men remain convicted in the Georgia murder case, and their federal hate-crime convictions were affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit in November 2025. This page does not claim that every possible post-conviction filing has been exhausted; it reports the standing judgments identified in the reviewed record.