Choose to arraign ex-DA billed in Arbery killing’s aftermath

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A previous Georgia prosecutor billed a lot more than a 12 months in the past with hindering the police investigation into the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery has been purchased to look in advance of a judge future month for her first courtroom appearance.

Superior Court Decide John R. Turner on Tuesday scheduled a Dec. 29 arraignment for previous Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Legal professional Jackie Johnson, who will have a probability to enter a plea following the fees are formally presented in court docket.

The choose explained he will also choose up any pending authorized motions, which incorporate a request by Johnson’s defense lawyers to have 1 of the fees dismissed.

Johnson served as the leading prosecutor for coastal Glynn County when white males in pickup trucks chased and killed Arbery immediately after they noticed the young Black guy functioning in their neighborhood just outdoors the port metropolis of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020.

One particular of Johnson’s previous personnel, Greg McMichael, initiated the deadly pursuit and his grownup son, Travis McMichael, fired the shotgun blasts that still left 25-year-aged Arbery dead in the road. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and recorded cellphone video clip of the killing.

Extra than two months passed before the McMichaels and Bryan ended up arrested on murder charges in Arbery’s loss of life, which occurred soon after Bryan’s graphic video clip was leaked on-line and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took more than the case from neighborhood law enforcement.

A grand jury indicted Johnson in link with Arbery’s death in September 2021. She was charged with a felony depend of violating her oath of business office and with hindering a regulation enforcement investigation, a misdemeanor.

Georgia Lawyer Basic Chris Carr’s workplace is prosecuting the circumstance. The indictment alleges that Johnson employed her place of work to consider to defend the McMichaels and advised Glynn County law enforcement officers the working day of the shooting that they should not arrest Travis McMichael.

Johnson has denied wrongdoing, declaring she promptly recused herself from the circumstance involving Arbery’s dying since Greg McMichael had labored for her as an investigator. Her defense attorneys submitted a authorized motion in March asking the decide to dismiss the demand of hindering police, arguing there was “not a scintilla of evidence” to guidance it.

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Prosecutors responded in May with a court submitting that shown 16 phone calls concerning phones belonging to Johnson and Greg McMichael in the times and months following the taking pictures. One particular of the calls lasted 21 minutes, according to the court document.

By the time she was indicted, Johnson had by now been voted out of office. She has mentioned that controversy about her dealing with of Arbery’s killing performed a purpose in her dropping reelection in 2020.

Johnson’s initial courtroom appearance will occur virtually 15 months right after she turned herself in at the Glynn County jail following her indictment. She was introduced with no owning to pay a hard cash bond.

When Johnson’s scenario has idled, Arbery’s killers have been convicted and sentenced in condition and federal courts.

The McMichaels and Bryan have been observed responsible of murder a 12 months in the past in Glynn County Remarkable Courtroom, wherever a choose sentenced them to daily life in jail. This year, a jury in U.S. District Court docket convicted all 3 of federal loathe crimes. The McMichaels each and every acquired a next daily life phrase through sentencing in August, although Bryan bought an further 35 many years in jail.