By RUSS BYNUM, Related Press
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Greater than 200 potential jurors had been summoned Tuesday to a Georgia courthouse to face questions on whether or not they can serve impartially within the trial of a former prosecutor accused of meddling with police as they investigated the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
Jackie Johnson served as district legal professional when Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was chased by three white males in pickup vans and fatally shot on a residential road. Johnson’s misconduct trial will likely be held in the identical courthouse the place Arbery’s assailants had been convicted of homicide in 2021.
The specter of winter climate is inflicting delays. Senior Decide John R. Turner mentioned he plans to adjourn early Tuesday forward of forecast snow showers. He additionally canceled court docket Wednesday, when native faculties will likely be closed due to anticipated snow of ice.
Officers summoned a big pool of potential jurors given the notoriety of Arbery’s killing and Johnson’s public profile throughout her decade as the highest prosecutor in coastal Glynn County.
Superior Court docket Clerk Rebecca Walden mentioned her workplace mailed out jury responsibility notices to 500 individuals. Greater than 200 had stuffed out and returned juror questionnaires, she mentioned. Some others had been excused from jury responsibility, or their mailings had been returned as undeliverable.
Potential jurors will likely be requested what they’ve learn or heard about Arbery’s killing and the case towards Johnson, and whether or not they’re capable of function neutral jurors. Walden mentioned she suspects it may take every week to pick a jury of 12 members plus alternates.
Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for Johnson’s workplace, began the pursuit along with his son Travis McMichael on Feb. 23, 2020, after Arbery ran previous his house simply outdoors the port metropolis of Brunswick. Travis McMichael killed Arbery with a shotgun at point-blank vary as a neighbor who joined the chase, William “Roddie” Bryan, recorded the taking pictures on his cellphone. The lads later mentioned they wrongly suspected Arbery was a thief.
Georgia Legal professional Basic Chris Carr’s workplace is prosecuting Johnson. Prosecutors say she abused her workplace by making an attempt to protect the McMichaels, who together with Bryan averted arrest for greater than two months till the taking pictures video leaked on-line.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation then took over the case from native police. All three males had been arrested, convicted of homicide and sentenced to life in jail. They had been additionally discovered responsible of federal hate crimes in a separate 2022 trial.
Johnson was indicted in September 2021 on a cost of violating her oath of workplace, a felony punishable by one to 5 years in jail, and a misdemeanor depend of hindering police as they investigated Arbery’s demise. The indictment says Johnsons confirmed “favor and affection” towards Greg McMichael and interfered with police by “directing that Travis McMichael shouldn’t be positioned below arrest.”
Johnson has denied wrongdoing, insisting she instantly handed the case to an out of doors prosecutor due to her connection to Greg McMichael. She was voted out of workplace in November 2020, a defeat she largely blamed on controversy over Arbery’s demise.
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