deserve an opportunity for redemption and that life without parole should be reserved for the worst of the worst. but the prosecution is asking the judge to sentence all three defendants to life without parole, meaning that they would die in prison, because they acted as armed vigilantes, the prosecutors said, who took the law into their own hands. >> what is your expectation from the judge, though? i mean, we have all of them with a mandatory life sentence. but travis mcmichael was the one who was guilty of an extra charge, of malice murder. >> so the judge may choose to sentence travis mcmichael, who was the actual shooter, more severely than the other two defendants. all three men are now convicted murderers. but only travis was convicted of malice murder, the most serious crime. and travis mcmichael also took the stand in his own defense.
sentencing hearing for the three men convicted of killing his son. that hearing is still under way at a courtroom in georgia. travis mcmichael, gregory mcmichael, and william roddy bryan chased and murdered arbery. joining me now is nbc news correspondent catie beck and former federal prosecutor paul butler. catie, what was it like in court today? >> katy, there has been a lot of emotional testimony from arbery's mother and father, describing the great loss of their son and saying they are there to be the voice he could not be for himself, making very clear they feel the mcmichaels targeted him because they didn't
he told another guy, he ain't no shuffler, this guy is an asshole. he commented he wanted him, ahmaud arbery, to know we weren't playing. if i could have got an shot of the guy, i would have shot him. travis mcmichael claims he was in shock, but it's interesting because he talks about his concern for his child and his own well-being. part of this was while the victim was actually laying there in the street, commented this was the worst day in my life. i think it's been touched on here today. there were other individuals that were impacted. i look at the video of this incident -- when i say the video, i think everybody knows what i'm talking about. but there was one part of it that struck me as absolutely chilling. it was the enhanced video provided by the gpi. there's a frame where it looks
record speaks for itself. and the defendants' own words guides the court through sentencing. i went back through my notes and other resources to pull some of the quotes that we have in this case. i'll start with greg mcmichael. in my opinion, greg mcmichael very early on in this tried to establish a narrative. he made comments like ahmaud arbery was trapped like a rat, stop or i'll blow your -- and i won't repeat it again -- head off. he effectively admitted he wasn't sure what ahmaud arbery had done wrong. quote, i don't think the guy has actually stolen anything out there, but if he did, it's northwesterly the process. but he keeps going back over and over again to this damn house. getting back to the narrative, he told travis, you have no choice.
like he was 20, 30 yards out. it's the frame of travis mcmichael lifting the shotgun to fire at ahmaud arbery, and you watch that with context. i want to say context, after hearing evidence in this case, thinking about a young man who had been running at that point for almost five minutes, and it is a chilling, truly disturbing scene. and we got there because travis mcmichael's father saw ahmaud arbery hauling down the street and calls out, let's go. at that point travis mcmichael, despite whatever may have been going on in his life at that time, with regard to family or otherwise, just goes, grab as shotgun and goes because he assumes that it is the right thing to do. ahmaud arbery was then hunted