SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia prosecutor has been indicted on misconduct charges related to the killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
A grand jury on Thursday indicted former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson on charges of violating her oath of office and hindering a law enforcement officer.
News of the indictment comes after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr requested an investigation last year into local prosecutors’ handling of Arbery’s slaying.
Police did not initially arrest Travis and Gregory McMichael for the alleged shooting that occurred on Feb. 23. The father and son remained free until the cell phone video that recorded the shooting was leaked to the public on May 5. After a national outcry, they were arrested two days later.
Arbery was fatally shot in February 2020 after a white father and son armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-old Black man after spotting him running in their neighborhood.
One of the men, Gregory McMichael, had worked for Johnson as an investigator and called her after the shooting.
He retired in 2019, the Associated Press reported.
The McMichaels and the man who recorded the fatal shooting, William “Roddie” Bryan, are charged with murder and other crimes and are set for trial, which will begin in February 2022.
Johnson recused herself and called in an outside prosecutor.
Johnson did not immediately return a phone message.
