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The third man involved in the chase, William Bryan, 52, was sentenced in state court to life with the possibility of parole. As of Monday evening, there was no indication that he had reached a plea deal with the Justice Department.

Prosecutors had hoped that the plea deals for the McMichaels would guarantee that the men would face serious prison time for the death of Mr. Arbery, even in the unlikely possibility that their state murder convictions were overturned on appeal. Their federal sentence would have run concurrently with their state sentences of life without the possibility of parole.

The deal would have also barred the men from appealing their federal guilty pleas.

For members of Mr. Arbery’s family, it was not enough. In a courtroom in Brunswick, Ga., close to the site of the killing, they spoke to Judge Wood of the ongoing trauma of losing Mr. Arbery, who was unarmed as he fled on foot from his pursuers. And they argued passionately that the men should not be allowed to choose what they considered a less-unpleasant prison option.

“I’m asking on the behalf of his family, on behalf of his memory, and on behalf of fairness that you do not grant this plea in order to allow these men to transfer out of Georgia state custody into the federal prisons, where they prefer to be,” said Wanda Cooper-Jones, referring to Mr. Arbery, her son.