Crime

U.S court rejects pleas by Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers

Published

3 years ago

February 1, 2022

U.S court rejects pleas by Ahmaud Arbery’s murderers

By Derrick Bangura

A federal judge in Georgia has rejected plea deals negotiated between federal prosecutors and two of the three white males accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery, stating that she was unwilling to be bound by the 30-year federal prison sentence stated in the plea.

Travis McMichael, one of the three perpetrators facing federal hate-crime charges next week, revealed for the first time that he followed the 25-year-old Black man because of his race, triggering the exceptional decision by U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood. The decision means the parties must either return to court with a more acceptable deal when the hearing resumes on Friday morning or prepare next week for trial.

McMichael had appeared in the U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, in an attempt to change his plea to guilty, admitting to a charge of using a gun in his attempt to apprehend Arbery because of his “race and color,” resulting in Arbery’s death. He fired at Arbery three times at close range with his shotgun. His father, Gregory McMichael, had also been due to change his plea to guilty as part of an agreement at a subsequent hearing on Monday over the objections of Arbery’s relatives, who successfully begged Wood not to accept the deals.

The McMichael’s have already faced trial at the state level when they were convicted of murder last November in a court in Brunswick alongside their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan and sentenced to life in prison. The state judge ruled that only Bryan would ever be able to seek parole. State prosecutors said the men “assumed the worst” about the Black man running through their neighborhood, unfairly thinking he must have been fleeing some crime when they chased him down in pickup trucks before cornering and shooting him in February 2020.

MOTHER’S APPEAL TO JUDGE

In rejecting the federal agreement, Wood acknowledged emotional testimony on Monday by Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, and other relatives who begged the judge not to accept the deal.

They said they were alarmed those prosecutors had agreed to recommend McMichael be transferred to a federal prison for 30 years before returning him to the custody of the Georgia prison system for the rest of his life. Federal prisons are generally perceived as less brutal environments than typical state prisons.

“Granting these men their preferred conditions of confinement will defeat me. It gives them one last chance to spit in my face after murdering my son,” Cooper-Jones told the court. “The state of Georgia already gave these men exactly what they deserve. Please leave it that way.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara Lyons said the government had repeatedly consulted with Arbery’s family, and that they had previously not opposed an agreement as the best way to ensure that the McMichael’s would admit race played a role in their crimes and give up their right to appeal a federal conviction.

“I understand the anger, the pain and the struggle that the family is feeling with this resolution,” she said in asking the judge to accept the deal.

In a statement after the hearing, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the Justice Department respected the court’s decision and that the agreements had been entered “only after the victims’ attorneys informed me that the family was not opposed to it.”

Judges rarely reject plea agreements. Rejections can occur if judges believe the agreements do not adequately address the nature of the crimes, the rights of victims, or the interests of the public.

Wood said that under the plea agreement before her she would be bound to accept the 30-year federal sentence, and that she needed more information before she could decide if that was just.

“If I accept it, it locks me in to that sentence,” she said.

Federal judges on occasion reject a plea agreement when they disagree with prosecutors’ proposed sentence in order to avoid any surprises at the later sentencing hearing, according to Paul Applebaum, a criminal defense attorney in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“It’s just the right thing to do if she has a problem with it,” Applebaum said, adding that the two sides could continue negotiations for a different deal ahead of trial.

Arbery’s killing sparked national outrage when cellphone video taken by Bryan of the shooting emerged months later and the public learned that local authorities had declined to arrest his pursuers.

Earlier in the hearing, Travis McMichael admitted he had shared racist sentiments in text messages and social media posts for many years.

“Defendant Travis McMichael did not belong to any hate groups and did not set out on February 23, 2020, to carry out an act of violence against an African-American person,” said the proposed plea agreement, which was read aloud in court. “But he had made assumptions about Ahmaud Arbery that he would not have made if Ahmaud Arbery had been white.”
McMichael admitted that in his messages he had associated Black skin “with criminality,” and that he had supported vigilante efforts to harm or kill Black people, “particularly those he saw as criminal.”

Prosecutors also called an FBI agent to the stand, who testified that a search of McMichael’s cellphone showed he frequently referred to Black people as “monkeys,” “savages” and another racist slur.

No notice was made of a plea agreement with Bryan, who is also due to stand trial on Feb. 7. Bryan’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

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Crime

2 ladies docked for allegedly obtaining money by fraud

Published

6 days ago

December 16, 2024

Saadatu Sahabo

The police in Lagos have dragged two women, Mmesuma Ofunna, and Blessing Adimekwe, before an Ojo Magistrates’ Court in Lagos, over alleged obtaining money by false pretence.

Ofunna, 22, and Adimekwe, 25, were arraigned before the Magistrate, Mr L K J Layeni, on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, obtaining by false pretence, stealing and conduct likely to breach peace.

They each, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The prosecutor, ASP Simon Uche, told the court that the defendants conspired with others now at large, to commit the offence on Oct. 26 at the Okokomaiko area of Ojo.

He alleged that they had obtained the sum of N70, 000 from one Faith Ahamefule, with a promise not to post her nude photo on social media.

The prosecutor alleged that the defendants later posted the nude photo of the nominal complainant on social media, knowing that their promise was false.

He alleged that they stole the N70, 0000, thereby conducting themselves in a manner likely to breach public peace.

The offence contravenes the provisions of sections 168(d), 287, 314, and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.

The court granted the defendants bails in the sum of N500, 000 each, with two sureties each in like sum.

He adjourned the case until Jan. 8, 2025 for mention.

Crime

Mechanic jailed 15 months for pickpocketing passengers

Published

7 days ago

December 16, 2024

Saadatu Sahabo

A Jos Magistrates’ Court on Monday, sentenced a 26-year-old Mechanic, Sadiq Umar to 15 months imprisonment for pickpocketing from passengers.

The Magistrate, Shawomi Bokkos, summarily tried and sentenced the convict after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

Bokkos in his judgment, ordered the convict to pay an option of N100, 000 fine or spend one year in prison.

He also asked him to pay a compensation of N15, 000 or an additional three months in prison in default.

Earlier, the Prosecutor, Insp Ijuptil Thiawur, told the court that the case was reported on Nov.16, at the “A” Division Police station by Moses Pam, Alexander Bakshak and Simon Justice the complaints.

Thiawur said that the convict attempted to steal from them before he was caught in the act and when the driver stopped the vehicle to search him he fled but was caught.

The Police said that the offence contravened the Plateau Penal Code Law.

Crime

Police detain 2 suspected fraudsters, reject N66m bribe in Lagos

Published

7 days ago

December 16, 2024

Saadatu Sahabo

Police rescue 14 passengers from bandits in Jibia

The Zone-2 Police Command in Lagos says it has detained two suspected international fraudsters that allegedly specialised in forging foreign certificates in Lagos and Ghana.

The AIG in charge of the zone, Adegoke Fayaode, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.

Fayoade said that the suspects allegedly offered N66m to the operatives with a view to free them but the offer was turned down.

NAN reports that the same zone operatives rejected a N174m bribe offered by a suspect in November to set him free.

Fayoade said that the suspects simply identified as Elvis, 23 and Kelly, 24, allegedly specialised in forging certificates of different nations and African Universities and defrauding their unsuspecting victims on the internet.

He said that the suspects have succeeded in acquiring exotic cars and erecting mansions in different parts of the country with the proceeds of their loot.

The AIG pointed out that luck ran out of the suspects after detectives at the Anti-Corruption Unit of the Zone received credible information from Nigerians in diaspora concerning some group of boys that specialised in forging foreign certificates.

According to him, on getting the information, he detailed the anti-corruption unit to investigate it and arrest the suspects without delay.

Fayoade said that based on his directives, the detectives stormed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos waiting for the arrival of the suspects, whom they trailed to a five star hotel at Osapa-London in Lekki Area.

He said that the operatives arrested the suspects at a bus stop while they were about to escape secretly from the hotel, after monitoring their activities.

“Searching their luggage, one certificate of Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis and a student identity card of Academic City College belonging to Kelly were recovered.

“Further search revealed a transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University belonging to Elvis.

“A letter of English proficiency from the said college and a letter of recommendation from the same Blue Crest College were recovered,” he said.

The AIG said that the suspects made useful statements to the police and confessed that they never got any admission into the school, stressing that they only procured the degree certificates through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.

“The suspects further confessed that the major aim of doing that is to enable them to get Ghana resident permit, which they got.

“The resident permit is showing them also as a student of Academic City University and that none of them has ever been admitted in the school.

“They claimed they paid a total of 26,000 Ghana Cedis for all the documents procured.

“They confessed that they procured all the documents to evade arrest in Ghana since they don’t have any means of livelihood.

Whenever police intercepted them, they showed their passports that they were students in Ghana.”

Fayoade said that the suspects were also allegedly involved in online romance scam, provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions on the internet through what they call ‘Facebook bombing’.

He said the suspects presented themselves as an American soldier by name Captain Donald Rowe, serving in Syria, whom they impersonated on Instagram, using his name to defraud innocent persons.

The AIG said that while detectives were making frantic efforts to get more credible information from the suspects, they started negotiating to bribe the operatives for them to be set free.

“I directed my men to play along and recover the money as an exhibit. Subsequently, the detectives played along and the suspects paid them a sum of N66m, which they collected and kept as an exhibit.

“The Nigeria Police authorities have written to the Ghana embassy to get more information about the result and their suspected partners in Ghana said to be spearheading the fraud.

Fayoade said that they had also spread their dragnets through the International Police, Interpol, to round up their foreign accomplices.