Brunswick, Georgia. The week-long case was abruptly stopped before it reached the jury stage on Wednesday when a judge dismissed the felony indictment used to charge a former Georgia prosecutor who was accused of exploiting her position to shield the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery.
Former District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who was the senior state prosecutor at the time, has long denied pressuring police officers who originally chose not to make arrests when Arbery was shot dead in coastal Glynn County over five years ago. The judge’s decision put an end to the criminal allegations that had plagued Johnson for almost three years.
When Johnson’s trial began last week, she was charged with a felony, a misdemeanor count of hindering police, and breaching her oath of office. After five days of witness testimony, including from Johnson, the jury returned a verdict in her favor on Wednesday morning.
After Johnson’s lawyers contended that the 2021 indictment was gravely defective by technical mistakes and finally failed to accuse her of any crimes, Senior Judge John R. Turner dismissed the oath violation allegation.
In court, Turner stated, “To be honest, I didn’t want to make this decision.” However, he stated that the defense must be allowed to contest the indictment.
Johnson was acquitted of the misdemeanor obstruction charge by Turner on Monday. After the prosecution rested their case, judge declared that they had not produced any proof that Johnson had ordered police detectives to not arrest the guy who had shot Arbery.
According to Arbery’s parents, they continue to think Johnson attempted to shield the guys who murdered their son. Marcus Arbery Sr., his father, described the judge’s decision to adjourn the trial as terrible. Wanda Cooper-Jones, his mother, stated that she thought Johnson would have been found guilty by the jury.
Cooper-Jones informed reporters that the proof was present. Jackie Johnson was involved in the cover-up of Ahmaud’s death, as we all know.
On February 23, 2020, Greg and Travis McMichael, a father and son, spotted Arbery, a 25-year-old Black guy, running in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick. Armed with weapons, they utilized a pickup truck to pursue the man. In his own truck, William Roddie Bryan, a neighbor, joined the chase and captured on his cellphone footage of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun.
There were no arrests for over two months. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation then took up the case from the local police when the shooting’s footage was released online. Following separate trials, all three men were charged with and found guilty of federal hate crimes and murder.
Following a probe launched by Georgia Attorney Chris Carr, Johnson was indicted in 2021. Johnson was accused by Carr’s office prosecutors of hiding information that a nearby district attorney Carr had assigned to the case had previously told police that Arbery had been shot in self-defense.
Greg McMichael, who retired last year, had been an investigator for Johnson. He called Johnson and left a voicemail requesting assistance.
On the witness stand, Johnson denied any wrongdoing, claiming that she never instructed anybody to spare the McMichaels. Without consulting Johnson, George Barnhill, the first of three outside prosecutors assigned to Arbery’s case, said that he came to the conclusion that the shooting was warranted.
According to Brian Steel, Johnson’s primary defense lawyer, Attorney General Carr capitalized on the biggest tragedy by indicting an innocent woman after Ahmaud Arbery was killed without cause. He went on to say that Jackie was portrayed as being in favor of racism. That is simply untrue.
Johnson mostly attributed her loss to the issue surrounding Arbery’s murder when she was voted out of office in November 2020. On Wednesday, she departed the courthouse without interacting with media.
The prosecution found it difficult to construct a case. They did not see Johnson’s illegal actions, according to their own witnesses who were brought to speak about the district attorneys’ handling of conflicts of interest. According to the indictment, Johnson ordered two police officers not to detain Travis McMichael. Stephanie Oliver, one of them, testified that it never did. There was never a witness call for the second officer.
Carr stated in a statement that his office had done everything it could to make sure justice was done.
“We regret that the jury won’t get to make a decision, but we stand by the case we presented,” Carr said.
Defense lawyers for Last Monday, Johnson requested that the judge dismiss the indictment. Turner postponed making a decision until Wednesday morning. He didn’t give an explanation.
Johnson’s lawyers contended that the charge of oath violation was based on an oath Johnson had taken in 2010 that had expired. They said that after winning reelection in 2016, Johnson had taken a fresh oath at the time of her indictment.
The indictment accused Johnson of acts that were not violations of the oath, according to defense attorneys. According to the report, she failed to treat Arbery’s family fairly and with decency, showed favor and affection to Greg McMichael, and failed to tell Carr’s office that she had solicited Barnhill’s assistance prior to his official appointment.
According to Steel, it didn’t establish a crime. It claimed that because Jackie disclosed certain facts to the attorney general, she did not treat the Ahmaud Arbery family with decency. That is all legal.