Trial date set for former Georgia DA charged with meddling in Ahmaud Arbery investigation

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The former Georgia district attorney charged with interfering with police investigating Ahmaud Arbery‘s killing is scheduled for trial. Jury selection in Jackie Johnson’s criminal misconduct trial is scheduled for Jan. 21 in Glynn County, an order from Senior Judge John R. Turner states.

Johnson was District Attorney in February 2020 when Arbery was killed on a residential street by three white men who were chasing him in the Satilla Shores neighborhood. The men were convicted of murder and federal hate crimes. One of the men, Greg McMichael, was a retired investigator who worked for Johnson. She recused her office from handling Abery’s killing.

Johnson was voted out of office and a grand jury indicted her in September 2021 on a felony count of violating her oath of office and a misdemeanor count of hindering a police officer.

The case has been at a standstill since November 2023 when Judge Turner denied Johnson’s motion to dismiss the case.

The judge told The Associated Press in September that the delays were unavoidable because one of Johnson’s attorneys, Brian Steel, had spent most of the past two years in an Atlanta courtroom defending Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug in a sprawling racketeering and gang trial.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Read: Judge rejects effort to dismiss case against former DA charged in Ahmaud Arbery killing’s aftermath

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