Crime Former DA In Ahmaud Arbery Case Finally Gets A Court Date

It’s been almost three years since Ahmaud Arbery was chased, trapped and gunned down by three bigots with ties to local law enforcement over the offense of jogging while Black. Those homicidal racists have since been tried, convicted and shipped off to prison, likely for the rest of their lives.

© Photo: Glynn County Sheriff’s Office (AP) This booking photo provided by Glynn County, Ga., Sheriff’s Office shows Jackie Johnson, the former district attorney for Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit, after she turned herself in to the Glynn County jail in Brunswick, Ga, on Sept. 8, 2021. On Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, Johnson, a former Georgia prosecutor charged more than a year earlier with hindering the police investigation into the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery, was ordered to appear before a judge in December 2022 for her first court appearance.

But months after the last conviction for his actual murder, one person who played a pivotal role by using her elected office to help the killers initially evade accountability is just now starting the process of facing her own accountability. Jackie Johnson, who was district attorney for Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit when Arbery was killed, will finally be arraigned Dec. 29. She will have to face a judge and enter a plea to charges that she violated her oath of office and improperly interfered with the investigation of Arbery’s killing by instructing Gwynn County cops not to make an arrest in the case.

Men indicted for shooting at Mississippi delivery driver

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. (AP) — A father and son have been indicted by a grand jury after allegedly chasing and shooting at a FedEx driver in January after he dropped off a package in a Mississippi city. Brandon and Gregory Case, who are both white, were re-arrested Friday and indicted for attempted first-degree murder, conspiracy and shooting into the vehicle of D’Monterrio Gibson, who is Black. The charges were upgraded from conspiracy and aggravated assault.

Arbery’s killers, Travis McMichael, who actually shot Arbery, his father, Greg, a former investigator for Johnson’s office and William “Roddie” Bryan, have all had their days in court. But the long delay for Johnson shows how race and privilege can continue to shield people tied to law enforcement from consequences for their actions, especially when the victims are unarmed Black men with relatively little wealth or connections.

Most people accused of crimes are typically arraigned within weeks, if not days. Waiting a year and a half—Johnson was indicted in September 2021—is unheard of, Georgia defense attorney Dwight Thomas told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last week.

What happened to Arbery has largely been adjudicated; not even the men wasting away behind bars for his death dispute their roles, but from the very beginning it was clear that they thought their race and their connections to the criminal justice system—to Johnson in particular—conveyed immunity. Bryan actually recorded the chase and murder, saying in an interview later that he believed that the video would help clear them.

Trump rips the Supreme Court as 'nothing more than a political body' after they ruled against him, even though he appointed 3 justices of the conservative majority

Trump criticized the Supreme Court but the high court, and Roe v. Wade's reversal, is often held up by the GOP as one of his greatest accomplishments."Why would anybody be surprised that the Supreme Court has ruled against me, they always do! It is unprecedented to be handing over Tax Returns, & it creates a terrible precedent for future Presidents," Trump said in a post early Wednesday morning. "The Supreme Court has lost its honor, prestige, and standing, & has become nothing more than a political body, with our Country paying the price.

The judge in Johnson’s case, John “Robbie” Turner, hasn’t said publicly what the hold up is. He still has a month before Johnson has to stand in front of him, but at any time between now and then he could rule on her defense team’s motion to dismiss the case—which means there’s still a chance Johnson never faces accountability at all.

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