On Sept. 23. 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, 25, was murdered by three White men. Immediately after the murder, one of the men left a voicemail to the then-District Attorney of Glynn County, Ga., Jackie Johnson:
“My son and I have been involved in a shooting, and I need some advice right away,” Greg McMichael said on the recording.
Johnson gave more than advice. Court records show that Johnson used her office and position as district attorney to prevent the arrest of McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, and kept in constant communication with them.
Fortunately, two months later, a video of the murder was leaked online, triggering outrage as Arbery’s death became part of a broader outcry over racial injustice that followed the 2020 police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police and the men were arrested.
While the men have been sentenced to life sentences for state and federal crimes, including murder and hate crimes, Johnson appeared to have been left unscathed. The ex-DA was finally indicted in September 2021 by a grand jury on charges of violating her oath of office and hindering a police investigation. However, Johnson’s case continued to move at a glacial pace, sparking anger in the community.
When the Associated Press questioned the presiding judge, John R. Turner, about the cause of the delay, he answered that the long wait was unavoidable because Brian Steel, Johnson’s lead attorney, spent nearly two years in an Atlanta courtroom defending Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug in a prolonged racketeering and gang trial.
Steel was lauded by the hip-hop and legal community in his vigorous defense of Young Thug. At one point, Steel was held in contempt, arrested, and ordered by then-presiding Judge Ural Glanville to serve 20 days in the Fulton County Jail. The order was eventually reversed and the judge was recused from the case. Steel was able to negotiate a plea deal with prosecutors and Young Thug was subsequently released before the holidays.
Five days after the rapper agreed to a plea deal Oct. 31, Turner immediately ordered Johnson to make her first court appearance and scheduled her January trial.
Jury selection is scheduled to start Tuesday in Brunswick, a coastal city 300 miles southeast of Atlanta. If found guilty, Johnson can be sentenced to one to five years in prison.
