Source: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / Getty
The father of Ahmaud Arbery recently suggested that the prosecution of a former attorney general indicted more than two years ago for allegedly trying to cover up his son’s murder is being deliberately delayed.
Marcus Arbery Sr. told Action News Jax in an interview that Jackie Johnson, the former district attorney in Glynn County, must be held accountable for her role in his son’s murder.
The former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney is credibly accused of trying to protect the men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery as the 25-year-old Black man was running in a subdivision in Brunswick, Georgia, nearly four years ago. She was indicted in 2021 on one felony count of violating her oath of office and one misdemeanor count of hindering a law enforcement officer.
But the state of the case against her is seemingly in limbo as it hasn’t moved forward since it got started.
Jackie Johnson | Source: Glynn County Sheriff’s Office
While the charges at face value may not sound that serious, they point to what appears to be an incestuous web of local law enforcement plotting with the people directly involved in Ahmaud Arbery’s murder to help cover it up – suspicions that have great merit since she was part of a carousel of prosecutors in Georgia who recused themselves from the case.
It was in that context that the elder Arbery said Johnson was “not above the law” and predicted she will “come to justice.”
Johnson was charged in September of 2021 after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requested an investigation that revealed Greg McMichael — who, along with his son, Travis, was convicted for murdering Ahmaud Arbery — worked as an investigator in Johnson’s office until he retired in 2019. He called Johnson shortly after shooting Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, more than two months before anyone was arrested for the killing.
“Jackie, this is Greg,” McMichael said, according to a recording of the call included in the public case file. “Could you call me as soon as you possibly can? My son and I have been involved in a shooting and I need some advice right away.”
According to the indictment, Johnson returned the call and not only did she show “favor and affection” toward Greg, but she interfered with police officers at the scene by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”
“She believed him,” Ahmaud Arbery’s father told Action News Jax. “Tried to cover it up.”
Source: Sean Rayford / Getty
In fact, according to the Associated Press, prosecutors listed a total of 16 calls between Greg and Johnson that allegedly occurred in the days and weeks following the shooting.
However, the delay could be because Johnson’s attorney also represents Grammy Award-winning rapper Young Thug in a RICO case in Georgia, which has been inching forward and also been dragged out for more than a year.
Meanwhile, Johnson remains an attorney in good standing, according to the State Bar of Georgia.
No date for a new hearing in Johnson’s case has been scheduled.
Georgia’s attorney general’s office told Action News Jax that it still plans to proceed with the prosecution of Johnson.
SEE ALSO:
Here Are The Folks Who Could Still Be Held Accountable In The Death Of Ahmaud Arbery
