BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A new district attorney will be appointed to investigate the case of Ahmaud Arbery, according to his family’s lawyer S. Lee Merritt.
Joyette Holmes, the Cobb County district attorney, will be named the new prosecutor, Merritt said. Action News Jax’s sister station WSB-TV reports that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr will name Holmes to take over.
Merritt said in a tweet that Holmes’ office is being reviewed for any potential conflicts.
Another huge WIN for #JusticeForAhmaud! At the family’s demand— a special prosecutor will replace Tom Durden the S. GA prosecutor that sat on the case until video of Ahmaud’s murder was leaked. Joyette Holmes is out of @cobbcountygovt. Her office is being reviewed for conflicts. pic.twitter.com/rcuQ7UPOfE
— S. Lee Merritt, Esq. (@MeritLaw) May 11, 2020
On Feb. 23, Arbery, 25, was in the Satilla Shores neighborhood in Brunswick when both Gregory and Travis McMichael confronted Arbery with two firearms. During the encounter, Travis McMichael shot and killed Arbery, investigators said.
The men told police they believed Arbery was breaking into homes in their Satilla Shores neighborhood. When they saw him running past their home on a Sunday afternoon, they grabbed their guns and went after him. Family and friends said Arbery was an avid runner.
The McMichaels were arrested Thursday and charged with murder and aggravated assault in Arbery’s death.
Holmes would be the fourth district attorney to have the case.
Jackie Johnson, the district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, recused her office since Gregory McMichael was a former investigator in her office.
Waycross Judicial Circuit George Barnhill was then appointed by Carr in February to take over the case. George Barnhill, the district attorney in Waycross, then sent the letter to the Glynn County police chief sometime in April explaining why he believed no arrests needed to be made in the case.
Barnhill recused himself from the investigation shortly after sending the letter.
District Attorney Tom Durden was appointed to take over the case on April 13, and on May 5, he requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigate Arbery’s death.
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