Judge denies ex-prosecutor’s motion to halt her misconduct trial in Ahmaud Arbery investigation

By RUSS BYNUM The Associated Press

Former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson speaks to people Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024, at the Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, prior to a pretrial motions hearing in her violation of oath office case. (Michael Hall/Pool Photo via AP)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Michael Hall]

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia judge on Monday denied a former prosecutor’s legal motion to halt her upcoming trial on charges that she illegally interfered with police investigating the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery.

Senior Judge John R. Turner rejected former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson’s request to disqualify Georgia’s attorney general’s office from prosecuting her.

Johnson’s defense lawyers argued in court last week that state Attorney General Chris Carr has a conflict of interest because members of his staff are key witnesses in the case.

Jury selection for Johnson’s trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 21 in the coastal port city of Brunswick, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah.

Arbery, who was Black, was fatally shot Feb. 23, 2020, while he was running in a residential neighborhood. He was chased by white men in pickup trucks, including Greg McMichael, who started the deadly pursuit and whose son killed Arbery with a shotgun. McMichael was a retired investigator who had worked for Johnson.

No one was arrested in Arbery’s death for more than two months until cellphone video of the killing leaked online and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. Since then, McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, have been convicted of murder and federal hate crimes in separate trials. So has William “Roddie” Bryan, a neighbor who joined the chase and recorded the video.

Johnson was the top prosecutor in Glynn County when Arbery was killed. Though she recused her office because Greg McMichael had been an employee, Johnson was indicted in September 2021 on a felony charge of violating her oath of office as well as a misdemeanor count of hindering a police officer. Voters had ousted her from office months earlier in the 2020 elections.

The indictment accuses Johnson of using her elected position to show favoritism to Greg McMichael. It also says she urged police not to arrest Travis McMichael after the shooting.

Johnson has denied wrongdoing. Her lead defense attorney, Brian Steel, said during a court hearing last week that Johnson was focused on seeking a high-profile indictment when the shooting happened and “didn’t know what was going on with Ahmaud Arbery’s case.”

Johnson’s attorneys argued that the indictment against her describes Carr’s office as a victim, meaning his staff would be among the key witnesses. Johnson’s lawyers said that creates a conflict of interest for Carr’s prosecutors handling the case.

The judge denied Johnson’s legal motion in a ruling Monday without elaborating on his reasoning.

Prosecutor John Fowler told the judge that people in the attorney general’s office who dealt directly with Johnson in Arbery’s case no longer work there.

The charge that Johnson violated her oath of office stems from her recommendation to Carr’s office in 2020 that it appoint George Barnhill, a neighboring jurisdiction’s prosecutor, to handle Arbery’s killing.

Carr has said he appointed Barnhill without knowing that Johnson had already called on him days earlier to advise police in Arbery’s killing. Barnhill told police he saw no grounds for arrests, as he believed Arbery was shot in self-defense.

Johnson’s court appearance last Wednesday was her first as a criminal defendant in the three years since her indictment.

Turner has said he couldn’t move forward with Johnson’s case during the nearly two years Steel spent in an Atlanta courtroom defending Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug in a sprawling racketeering and gang case.