When it comes to the case of Ahmaud Arbery — the Black man who was murdered in Georgia in 2020 by lynch-happy white men who thought it was their job to lay judge, jury, executioner, and wannabe slave catcher — we got justice. Or, at least, we got more justice than many of us expected to get.
Source: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / Getty
Gregory and Travis McMichael and their friend and neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan were all rightfully thrown under the jail after being convicted of murder and federal hate crimes, for which they’re all serving life sentences. But what of the revolving door of Georgia prosecutors who didn’t think the case was worth taking or the one accused of telling officers not to arrest Arbery’s killers?
What about Jackie Johnson?
Source: Glynn County Sheriff’s Office / Handout
According to the Associated Press, former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who was indicted in September 2021 on one felony count of violating her oath of office and one misdemeanor count of hindering a law enforcement officer, was acquitted of the misdemeanor charge Monday after the judge determined there was no evidence Johnson obstructed officers from doing their jobs, which he ruled after the prosecution had rested its case.
“There is not one scintilla of evidence that I’ve heard that would authorize a verdict on that count,” Senior Judge John R. Turner said.
Johnson still faced the more serious charge of violating her oath of office, which carried a maximum sentence of five years. Her attorneys also asked the judge to rule on that felony count. Turner said he would let the charge stand “for the moment” and asked both sides to submit written briefs with additional legal arguments.
On Wednesday, however, the judge ruled that he was dropping the second charge against Johnson.
WJCL reports that Johnson will get off scot-free because of a technicality.
According to the outlet, Senior Judge John R. Turner dismissed the 2021 indictment charging Johnson with violating her oath of office, citing technical errors with its wording on Wednesday.
With that, her trial is over.
How Did We Get Here After The Ahmaud Arbery Case?
With this, justice for Arbery will begin and end with his killers going to prison.
But make no mistake: it appears there was a lot of buddy-buddy, good ol’ boy, “I got your back” activity going on between prosecutors, law enforcement, and former law enforcement in Brunswick directly following Arbery’s killing, which is why he had already been dead for a couple of months before anyone even had an inkling to prosecute or properly investigate his case.
From NewsOne:
The charges came after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requested an investigation that revealed Greg McMichael, who had worked as an investigator in Johnson’s office until he retired in 2019, had called Johnson shortly after the shooting occurred on Feb. 23, 2020, more than two months before anyone was arrested for Arbery’s killing.
“Jackie, this is Greg,” he said, according to a recording of the call included in the public case file. “Could you call me as soon as you possibly can? My son and I have been involved in a shooting and I need some advice right away.”
According to the indictment, Johnson returned the call and not only did she show “favor and affection” toward Greg, but she interfered with police officers at the scene by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”
Carr also called for an investigation into Waycross Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Barnhill, who Johnson had called in to handle police questions about how to handle Arbery’s case, to which he erroneously determined “that he did not see grounds for the arrest of any of the individuals involved in Mr. Arbery’s death.”
Barnhill — who later recused himself from the case after Arbery’s family found out his son once worked for Johnson as an assistant prosecutor — wrote a letter to a Glynn County police captain saying the McMichaels “were following, in ‘hot pursuit,’ a burglary suspect, with solid first-hand probable cause, in their neighborhood, and asking/ telling him to stop.”
“It appears their intent was to stop and hold this criminal suspect until law enforcement arrived. Under Georgia Law this is perfectly legal,” Barnhill wrote.
The citizen’s arrest law Barnhill referred to has since been repealed. Apparently, someone in Georgia with a legislative pen finally came to glory on the fact that a law that allows wayward white men to play Grand Wizard Batman and Redneck Robin every time they see a Black person where they don’t think they belong is a horrendously bad idea.
Imagine being an experienced prosecutor, looking at a case in which an unarmed Black man was clearly chased, blocked from leaving, and ultimately shot to death by civilians and saying, “Nah, there’s no crime here.” Then, a couple of years later, the white killers you let slide end up being convicted of murder and hate crimes and sent to prison for the rest of their natural lives.
But white prosecutors protecting white cops (or former cops) and their equally white offspring from being charged for the racist killing of Black citizens is simply far too American for us to expect it to be taken seriously as a crime.
The post Scot-Free: Judge Dismisses Both Charges Against Former Georgia DA Jackie Johnson Tied To Ahmaud Arbery case appeared first on Bossip.
