WATCH: Ahmaud Arbery’s Mother Calls Out Defense Lawyer’s ‘Dirty Toenails’ Remark in Powerful Statement at Sentencing Hearing
Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, delivered a powerful statement at the sentencing hearing for her son’s killers on Friday.
Travis McMichael, 35, his father, Gregory McMichael, 66, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, were all found guilty on various charges related to the 2020 slaying of the 25-year-old Arbery – who was murdered while out jogging.
In an emotional statement, Cooper-Jones spoke of the love Ahmaud had for her and his siblings and the love they had for him. While speaking about her son she recalled how he could be “messy” and then took a direct hit at the defense attorney for the McMichaels who infamously invoked Arbery having “dirty toenails” during their murder trial.
“I wish he would have cut and cleaned his toenails before he went out for that jog that day,” Cooper-Jones said. “I guess he would have if he knew he would be murdered.”
“These men deserve the maximum sentence for their crimes,” she continued. “Ahmaud never said a word to them. He never threatened them. He just wanted to be left alone. They were fully committed to their crimes. Let them be fully committed for the consequences.”
She concluded:
“I am asking you to please give all three defendants who are responsible for the death of my son the maximum punishment in this court, which I do believe is life behind bars without the possible chance for parole. Thank you.”
CNN legal analyst Areva Martin praised Cooper-Jones from her statement and for directly calling out the McMichaels’ legal team.
“I am filled with so many emotions myself, the mother of three kids, I can empathize with the family,” Martin told Kate Boldaun on CNN’s At This Hour.
Martin said:
“I sit here though so proud as a Black woman because of Ahmaud’s mom, the biggest flex we have seen in a decade, that comment she made about her son’s toenails, a direct response to that heinous and offensive statement made by Greg McMichael’s lawyer when she talked about his toenails being dirty and uncut, as if that somehow justified his murderer, and that did not go unresponded. Ahmaud’s mom just in her face.”
She concluded that Cooper-Jones “personalized, humanized her son in a way that is just so powerful. I cannot imagine that didn’t resonate with this judge.”
Watch above via CNN
