One of Ahmaud Arbery's killers had 16 phone calls with DA before arrest, court filings say

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by wazzel2u
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(CNN) In the weeks following the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, Greg McMichael, one of the men later convicted in Arbery's death, participated in 16 phone calls with the former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, according to court documents filed in the Superior Court of Glynn County on Wednesday.

Arbery, 25, was shot on February 23, 2020, while running from Greg McMichael, his son Travis and the McMichaels' neighbor, William "Roddie" Bryan, in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia.

The three were convicted last November of Arbery's murder. In February, a jury found that the three White men had chased Arbery as he was jogging because he was Black. It found them guilty of interference of rights, a federal hate crime; and attempted kidnapping.

The document filed Wednesday was the prosecution's response to two motions to dismiss criminal charges against Johnson for her role in allegedly mishandling the McMichael case. In the filing, government lawyers argue that Johnson's legal challenge is untimely, that the evidence supporting Johnson's indictment was sufficient, and that there was no flaw in the oath administered to grand jury witnesses.

In the wake of McMichael's conviction in Arbery's death, the state has also filed a misconduct case against Johnson claiming that she obstructed law enforcement "by directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest, contrary to the laws of said State."

jpiro on May 6th, 2022 at 18:38 UTC »

This should surprise no one. Remember, the police and DA had the same video we all saw for MONTHS and were doing everything possible to sweep it under the rug. If it didn't go public, they would never have brought charges.

ForgotToDieYoung on May 6th, 2022 at 16:23 UTC »

Never underestimate the presence of corruption and nepotism in politics, justice and commerce. Never.

wazzel2u on May 6th, 2022 at 16:17 UTC »

Even when you have irrefutable video evidence and you’ve caught the murderer, the DA still works in the background to cut a secret deal.