The trial of former Georgia prosecutor Jackie Johnson, accused of interfering in the police investigation of Ahmaud Arbery’s killing in 2020, is currently underway. The jury selection process is set to conclude on Tuesday in the Glynn County courthouse in Brunswick.
Ahmaud Arbery, a young Black man, was chased and fatally shot by white men with guns and pickup trucks who wrongly suspected him of being a thief. The man who initiated the pursuit was employed by the local district attorney, Jackie Johnson. Johnson is facing charges of violating her oath of office and hindering the police investigation into Arbery’s killing.
Despite denying any wrongdoing and claiming that she handed the case to an outside prosecutor immediately, Johnson is now a criminal defendant in her own trial. The proceedings have been delayed by a winter storm but are expected to proceed with opening statements from both prosecution and defense attorneys after the jury selection is completed.
The trial is being closely watched as it takes place in the same courthouse where Arbery’s assailants were convicted of murder in 2021. The father and son, Greg and Travis McMichael, armed themselves and pursued Arbery in their truck, with a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joining in and recording the fatal shooting on his cellphone.
Greg McMichael, a retired investigator who previously worked for Johnson, contacted her after the killing seeking advice. It wasn’t until Bryan’s video of the shooting surfaced online that arrests were made by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The McMichaels and Bryan were all sentenced to life in prison and convicted of federal hate crimes in a separate trial.
Prosecutors allege that Johnson abused her office by showing favoritism to the McMichaels and interfering with the police investigation. Johnson was voted out of office in 2020 largely due to the controversy surrounding Arbery’s killing. The trial is expected to last two weeks or more, shedding light on the role of law enforcement and prosecutors in cases of racial violence and injustice.
