Ahmaud Arbery’s murderer withdraws federal hate crimes guilty plea

Travis McMichael will stand trial again after judge rejected the terms of the plea deal

The man convicted of murder for shooting Ahmaud Arbery withdrew his guilty plea on a federal hate crime charge Friday, electing to stand trial for a second time in the 2020 killing of a Black man that became part of a larger national reckoning over racial injustice.

Travis McMichael reversed his plan to plead guilty in the federal case days after a US district court judge rejected the terms of a plea deal between defense attorneys and prosecutors that was met with passionate objections by Arbery's parents.