Two different Georgia district attorney offices are being investigated for “possible prosecutorial misconduct” after the tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man shot and killed for doing little more than jogging in a coastal Georgia community. Arbery, 25, died Feb. 23, 2020 after a violent encounter in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick left him with two "gaping" shotgun wounds in his chest and a graze wound on his right wrist, according to an autopsy report the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) emailed Daily Kos Tuesday.
Even though a witness captured footage of the moments leading up to the shooting and the Glynn County Police Department obtained the video the same day, suspects Gregory and Travis McMichael weren't arrested until Thursday, May 7, the GBI said. That was a full 74 days after Arbery’s death, which was ruled a homicide.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requested that the GBI open an investigation into the offices of the district attorneys of the Brunswick and Waycross Judicial Circuits Monday. ”The Attorney General is concerned that the actions of these offices in possibly misrepresenting or failing to disclose information during the process of appointing a conflict prosecutor to investigate the death of Ahmaud Arbery may have constituted unprofessional conduct (...) or other crimes,” Carr said in his letter.
His office had earlier received a letter from Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson on Feb. 27 advising of a conflict of interest “because the investigation into Mr. Arbery’s death involved Greg McMichael, a former investigator with her office," Carr said in his letter. Johnson contacted George Barnhill, the district attorney of the Waycross Judicial Circuit, and he agreed to take on the case.
"Not long after Mr. Barnhill’s appointment, he and Ms. Johnson learned that Mr. Barnhill’s son, an assistant district attorney in Ms. Johnson’s office, had worked with Mr. McMichael on a prosecution involving Mr. Arbery,” Carr said. “Mr. Barnhill, however, held onto the case for several more weeks after making this discovery."
Lee Merritt, an attorney representing Arbery's family, said last Tuesday that Barnhill did not disclose the conflict of interest to Carr's office until after Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper, discovered the connection. Barnhill reported a conflict of interest involving his son April 7, but the district attorney's letter "failed to disclose his involvement in this case prior to his appointment," Carr said.
Barnhill told the Glynn County Police Department on Feb. 24 that "he did not see grounds for the arrest of any of the individuals involved in Mr. Arbery’s death," Carr said. "He additionally stated his opinion to the Glynn County Police Department in writing that there was insufficient probable cause to make any arrests in the case and that he would be asking the Attorney General to appoint another prosecutor," Carr added. Barnhill's letter, however, conflicted with Johnson's claim that police were "currently investigating" the shooting.
After the inconsistent accounts, District Attorney Tom Durden was assigned to take over the case, and he recommended it be presented to a grand jury for criminal charges last Tuesday in a news release. He also requested the GBI look into Arbery’s case Thursday, according to the agency. Six days later, a new prosecutor, Cobb County District Attorney Joyette Holmes, was assigned to the case.
“This case has grown in size and magnitude since he accepted the appointment on April 13, 2020, and as an experienced District Attorney, Tom has recognized that another office is better suited from a resource perspective to now handle the case,” Carr said in a news release Monday. “As a result, he has requested our office to appoint another District Attorney.”
Holmes is the first Black woman to serve as Cobb County’s district attorney, according to the county. “Our office will immediately gather all materials related to the investigation thus far and continue to seek additional information to move this case forward,” Holmes said.
Merritt called the decision to appoint a new prosecutor, “another huge WIN” in getting justice for Arbery Monday. He said Holmes’ office is “being reviewed for conflicts.”
The case has attracted national media attention with statements of support for the Arbery family pouring out from politicians, activists, and celebrities alike. Even President Donald Trump took his best swing at empathy when questioned Monday at a news conference about the Arbery case.
In response to a reporter’s question, Trump said: "As far as the incident you're talking about, I think it's horrible, and it's certainly being looked at by many people. I'm speaking to many people about it."
Trump described a portion of the shooting video that caught his attention, when those depicted moved outside of the frame. "Nobody saw what was going on. Nobody saw," he said. "It's an empty spot on the tape I guess." He mentioned additional tapes and said "it doesn't look good."
"It breaks your heart to watch it. It breaks your heart, and certainly the video was a terrible looking video to me, but you have a lot of people looking at it,” Trump went on. “And hopefully an answer's going to be arrived at very quickly, but it's something that is heartbreaking."
Detroit Lions safety Tracy Walker, Arbery’s cousin and former high school teammate, told ESPN he watched the video "no exaggeration, over 100 times." “I couldn't grasp it,” he said.
In the video, partly shot from a moving vehicle, a gunshot rings out and a man later identified as Arbery is shown jogging. By the time the vehicle appears to have stopped, Arbery had changed course, heading toward a man holding a shotgun, the video shows. Another gunshot sounds in the footage, which cuts away from the encounter, and when it returns, Arbery and another man appear to be fighting for the gun.
Regional Medical Examiner Edmund Donoghue said in his report that Arbery died of “multiple shotgun wounds sustained during a struggle for the shotgun.”
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