Former Georgia prosecutor faces trial for allegedly obstructing Ahmaud Arbery killing investigation

Jan 20, 2025 Story by: Editor

SAVANNAH, Ga. — Just over an hour after his son fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery following a neighborhood chase, Greg McMichael reached out for advice from his former employer, the area's top state prosecutor.

“My son and I have been involved in a shooting, and I need some advice right away,” McMichael stated in a voicemail left on District Attorney Jackie Johnson’s cellphone.

A video of the shooting eventually led to criminal charges against McMichael, his son Travis McMichael, and their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan. The three white men, who used pickup trucks and firearms to pursue the 25-year-old Black man, are now serving life sentences for murder and federal hate crimes.

Despite the severity of the crime, all three men evaded arrest for over two months as Greg McMichael and Johnson maintained contact by phone, according to court records.

Now, nearly five years later, Johnson is standing trial , accused of using her position to obstruct the police investigation into Arbery’s killing. Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in Brunswick, located 70 miles south of Savannah.

The Background of Ahmaud Arbery’s Death

Arbery, an avid runner , often included the Satilla Shores neighborhood in his jogging routes. On February 23, 2020, he was running through the coastal Glynn County subdivision, just under two miles from his home, when Greg and Travis McMichael armed themselves and pursued him. Bryan joined the chase in his own truck, recording cell phone footage of the confrontation.

The video captured Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range as they struggled over a shotgun. Investigators determined Arbery was unarmed and carrying no stolen property, but police initially allowed the men to go home. Greg McMichael told officers they suspected Arbery of stealing from a nearby home under construction and claimed the shooting was in self-defense.

The case gained national attention two months later when Bryan’s video surfaced online, sparking outrage and becoming part of the larger conversation on racial injustice following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case, leading to the arrests of the McMichaels and Bryan within weeks.

Johnson’s Role and Charges

At the time of Arbery’s death, Johnson had been the district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit for a decade. Greg McMichael had worked in her office as an investigator before retiring in 2019.

Johnson recused herself from the case due to her connection with Greg McMichael and recommended a neighboring district attorney, George Barnhill, to take over. Barnhill initially concluded that the McMichaels’ actions were legal and the shooting justified.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr launched an investigation into the handling of the case in May 2020, after the arrests of the McMichaels. Carr later revealed that Johnson had not disclosed Barnhill’s prior involvement in advising police that the killing wasn’t a crime.

In November 2020, Johnson lost her re-election bid, attributing her defeat to the controversy surrounding the case.

In September 2021, a grand jury indicted Johnson on charges of violating her oath of office and hindering a police investigation. Prosecutors allege she showed “favor and affection” to Greg McMichael and instructed officers not to arrest Travis McMichael.

Johnson denied interfering, telling The Associated Press in 2020 that no one in her office directed police to refrain from making arrests. Her attorney, Brian Steel, argued that she was focused on an unrelated high-profile indictment and unaware of developments in Arbery’s case.

Court records reveal that Johnson and Greg McMichael exchanged 16 phone calls in the weeks following the shooting.

The Trial Ahead

Jury selection is expected to be a lengthy process, with 500 jury duty notices sent to ensure impartiality, according to Glynn County Superior Court Clerk Rebecca Walden. Potential jurors will be questioned about their knowledge of the case, and Walden anticipates it could take over a week to seat a jury.

Presiding over the trial is Senior Judge John R. Turner, who attributed delays to Steel’s involvement in defending rapper Young Thug in a lengthy racketeering case. After that case concluded in October, Turner scheduled Johnson’s trial to begin in January.

The trial comes more than t hree years after Johnson was first charged, adding another chapter to the prolonged pursuit of justice in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. Source: ABC News