Former Glynn County, Ga. District Attorney Jackie Johnson is (still) in the hot seat after being charged with misconduct in connection to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. She filed a motion to dismiss the case but a judge dismissed the request, keeping her on the road to trial.
In 2020, Arbery was jogging through a neighborhood when Greg and Travis McMichael chased him down in their truck. The chase ended when Travis ran down on him with a shotgun, firing a fatal shot. A neighbor, William Bryan, was charged along with the McMichaels after joining the chase and recording it, per The Associated Press. Now, where does this high and mighty prosecutor fit in?
Greg McMichael worked for Johnson at the time of the shooting, according to an AP report, and is accused of using her authority to influence the county police to not arrest him and his son. An investigation found 16 calls were made between Johnson and Greg in the time following the shooting. What could they possibly have to chat about?
The report says Johnson was voted out of office in 2020 after the conspiracy that she tampered with the case went viral.
Read more from The AP:
The one-page ruling by Senior Judge John R. Turner comes 20 months after defense attorneys for former District Attorney Jackie Johnson filed a legal motion arguing the case against her should be scrapped for lack of evidence.
A grand jury indicted Johnson in connection with Arbery’s death in September 2021, charging her with a felony count of violating her oath of office and with hindering a law enforcement investigation, a misdemeanor.
Her defense attorneys filed a legal motion in March 2022 seeking to dismiss the case. They argued there was “not a scintilla of evidence” to support the charge of hindering police.
Regardless of whether she tried to help out the McMichaels, none of those efforts seemed to matter since both men are serving life in prison on state and federal charges.