Three years after a former Georgia district attorney was charged with interfering with police investigating the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the case’s slow progression through the court system has halted, at least temporarily, reports the Associated Press. Jackie Johnson was the top prosecutor for coastal Glynn County in February 2020, when Arbery was chased by three white men in pickup trucks who saw him running in their neighborhood. The 25-year-old Black man died after one of his pursuers shot him with a shotgun. Johnson sent the case to an outside prosecutor because the man who started the deadly chase, Greg McMichael, was her former employee. Georgia’s attorney general says she illegally used her office to try to protect the retired investigator and his son, Travis, who fired the fatal shots.
Both McMichaels have been imprisoned for murder and federal hate crimes. So has a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan. The criminal misconduct case against Johnson has moved at a crawl since a grand jury indicted her on Sept. 2, 2021. Arbery's family says justice won’t be complete until Johnson stands trial. “It’s very, very important,” said Wanda Cooper-Jones, Arbery’s mother. “Jackie Johnson was really part of the problem early on.” Johnson lost a reelection race in 2020. Her case has stalled as one of her attorneys, Brian Steel, has spent almost two years in an Atlanta courtroom defending Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug against racketeering and gang charges. Jury selection took 10 months, prosecutors began presenting evidence last November and they are still calling witnesses. Judge John Turner, presiding over Johnson's case, said, It’s moving at a snail’s pace, but it will move forward eventually.” The indictment alleges Johnson told police they shouldn’t arrest Travis McMichael. Her attorneys say there is "not a scintilla of evidence" she hindered police.
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