BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A judge Wednesday ended the trial of former Georgia prosecutor accused of using her influence to protect the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery by throwing out the felony indictment used to charge her, abruptly halting the weeklong case before it went to the jury.
Former District Attorney Jackie Johnson for years denied influencing police who initially decided against making arrests when Arbery was fatally shot nearly five years ago in coastal Glynn County, where Johnson then served as the top state prosecutor.
Johnson faced charges of violating her oath of office, a felony, and a misdemeanor count of obstructing police when her trial opened last week. It ended in her favor Wednesday morning without a verdict from the jury that heard five days of testimony from witnesses, including Johnson.
Senior Judge John R. Turner dismissed the oath violation charge after Johnson’s attorneys argued the 2021 indictment was fatally flawed by technical errors and ultimately failed to accuse her of any crimes.
“Frankly, this is a decision I didn’t want to make,” Turner said in court. But he said the defense’s challenge to the indictment “needs to be granted.”
Turner on Monday ordered Johnson acquitted of the misdemeanor obstruction charge. He ruled after prosecutors rested their case, declaring they failed to show “one scintilla of evidence” that Johnson had directed police investigators not to arrest the man who shot Arbery.
Arbery’s parents said they still believe Johnson tried to protect the men who killed their son. His father, Marcus Arbery Sr., called the judge’s decision to end the trial “devastating.” His mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, said she believed the jury would have convicted Johnson.
“The evidence was there,” Cooper-Jones told reporters. “We all know that Jackie Johnson played a part in the cover-up of the death of Ahmaud.”
Father and son Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves with guns and used a pickup truck to chase Arbery after spotting the 25-year-old Black man running in their neighborhood just outside the port city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the pursuit in his own truck and recorded cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun.
More than two months passed without arrests. Then the video of the shooting leaked online, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. All three men were later charged and convicted of murder and federal hate crimes in separate trials.
Georgia Attorney Chris Carr ordered an investigation of Johnson that resulted in her 2021 indictment. Prosecutors for Carr’s office accused Johnson of withholding information that a neighboring district attorney appointed by Carr to the case had already advised police that Arbery was shot in self-defense.
Greg McMichael had worked for Johnson as an investigator and retired the previous year. He left a voicemail for Johnson asking for help.
Johnson denied wrongdoing on the witness stand, saying she never told anyone to spare the McMichaels. George Barnhill, the first of three outside prosecutors assigned to handle Arbery’s case, testified he concluded the shooting was justified without Johnson’s input.
“Ahmaud Arbery was slaughtered for no reason, and then Attorney General Carr piggybacked on the greatest tragedy … and indicted an innocent woman,” said Brian Steel, Johnson’s lead defense attorney. He added: “Jackie was painted as a person who supported racism. That’s just totally false.”
Johnson was voted out of office in November 2020 and largely blamed her defeat on controversy over Arbery’s killing. She left the courthouse without speaking to reporters Wednesday.
Prosecutors struggled to build a case. Their own witnesses called to testify about how district attorneys handle conflicts of interest told the jury they didn’t see that Johnson had acted illegally. The indictment accused Johnson of directing two police officers not to arrest Travis McMichael. One of them, Stephanie Oliver, testified that never happened. The second officer was never called as a witness.
In a statement, Carr said his office had worked to do “everything possible to ensure justice was served.”
“We stand by the case we presented,” Carr said, “and we regret that the jury won’t get to decide.”
Defense attorneys for Johnson asked the judge to dismiss the indictment last week. Turner deferred ruling until Wednesday morning. He didn’t explain his reasoning.
Johnson’s attorneys argued the oath violation charge cited an expired oath Johnson had taken in 2010. At the time she was indicted, they said, Johnson had taken a new oath after winning reelection in 2016.
Defense lawyers also said the indictment accused Johnson of actions that weren’t oath violations. It said she had shown “favor and affection” to Greg McMichael, failed to treat Arbery’s family with “fairness and dignity,” and didn’t disclose to Carr’s office that she had enlisted Barnhill’s help before he was officially appointed.
“It didn’t set forth a crime,” Steel said. “It said that Jackie did not show dignity to the Ahmaud Arbery family because she told the attorney general some things. All of that is lawful.”
