SAVANNAH, Ga. >> The White man who initiated the neighborhood chase that resulted in the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery is asking a federal judge to show leniency when he’s sentenced next week for a federal hate crime conviction.

While Greg McMichael deserves “a substantial period of incarceration,” his defense attorney said in a legal filing, he should be spared a life sentence — though he has already been sentenced to life without parole on a separate murder conviction. McMichael also wants the judge to transfer him to a federal prison so that he avoids serving time for Arbery’s murder in Georgia’s state prison system, which can’t ensure his safety from attacks by other inmates, the lawyer said.

McMichael, 66, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court along with his adult son, Travis McMichael, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan.

– The Associated Press