Former District Attorney Facing Five Years in Prison for ‘Protecting’ the Men Who Shot Ahmaud Arbery
Former Georgia District Attorney Jackie Johnson is facing five years in prison for allegedly helping “protect” Gregory McMichael after his son fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery.
The former Brunswick District Attorney was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday over her alleged actions surrounding the 2020 shooting.
The indictment claims that Johnson violated her oath of office and obstructed law enforcement. It alleges that after Travis McMichael fatally shot Arbery, his father Greg McMichael, who previously worked in Johnson’s office, called her cellphone and told her that he needed help.
“Jackie this is Greg. 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,” McMichael reportedly said in the voicemail.
Officers with the Glynn County Police Department had allegedly called her asking for advice on how to handle it, and the indictment alleges that she “knowingly and willfully directed that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest, contrary to the laws of the State.” It additionally claims that she “showed favor and affection to Greg McMichael during the investigation into the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.”
Johnson had recused herself from the case over her connection to McMichael.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, has filed a lawsuit seeking more than a million dollars alleging that the arrests of the men involved in the shooting was delayed because of a cover-up.
According to a report from the Daily Mail, the lawsuit alleges that “for nearly three months, Glynn County police officers, the chief of police and two prosecutors conspired to hide the circumstances surrounding Ahmaud’s death and to protect he men who murdered him.”
