An hour after his son killed Ajmaud Arbery with a shotgun after they chased him through their Georgia neighborhood, Greg McMichael called his former boss, Jackie Johnson, the area’s chief prosecutor. “My son and I have been involved in a shooting, and I need some advice right away,” McMichael said in a voicemail. A video of the killing would ultimately lead to charges against McMichael, his son Travis and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan. All three white men, who used pickup trucks and guns to try to corral the 25-year-old Black man, are now serving life sentences for murder and federal hate crimes. The three men avoided arrest for more than two months as Greg McMichael and Johnson kept in touch by phone. More than four years later, Johnson is going to trial on charges that she used her office to interfere with police investigating Arbery’s killing. Jury selection is scheduled to start Tuesday in Brunswick, the Associated Press reports.
When Arbery jogged past the McMichaels’ property on Sept. 23, 2020, the father and son grabbed guns and gave chase. Bryan joined them in his truck and was recording cellphone video when the McMichaels stopped ahead of Arbery, who tried to run around them. The video showed Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at point-blank range. The men suspected Arbery had been stealing from a neighboring home under construction and Travis McMichael allegedly fired in self-defense. When the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police, the McMichaels and Bryan were arrested. Johnson said she immediately recused her office from the case. When voters ousted Johnson in November 2020, she largely blamed the controversy over Arbery’s killing and insisted she had done nothing wrong. She is charged with violating her oath of office, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, by using her position to show “favor and affection” to Greg McMichael. The indictment charges her with a misdemeanor — hindering police — by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.” Judge John Turner said the long wait for the trial was unavoidable because Brian Steel, Johnson’s lead attorney, spent nearly two years in court defending Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug in a racketeering and gang trial. The rapper agreed to a plea deal in October.
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