Georgia’s Attorney General Chris Carr formally requested the U.S. Department of Justice conduct an investigation into the handling of the Ahmaud Arbery case.
From the Georgia AG press release:
On February 27, 2020, the Office of the Attorney General received a request from the Office of the District Attorney of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit to appoint another prosecutor for this case. Pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 15-18-5, this Office appointed the District Attorney for the Waycross Judicial Circuit to prosecute the case on that same date. At the time of the request by the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney and acceptance by the Waycross Circuit District Attorney, neither revealed to the Office of the Attorney General that the Waycross Circuit District Attorney had already taken a role in the case in reviewing evidence and advising the Glynn County Police Department regarding whether to make arrests in the case.
On April 7, 2020, the Office of the Attorney General received a request from the Office of the District Attorney for the Waycross Judicial Circuit to appoint another prosecutor for this case. In that request, the Waycross Circuit District Attorney again did not inform the Office of the Attorney General of his prior involvement in the case before his appointment and specifically described to the Office of the Attorney General the actions that he took “upon taking the case.” In the request of April 7, 2020, the Waycross Circuit District Attorney indicated that he and the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney learned as of “about 3-4 weeks ago,” that his son who is employed as a prosecutor in the Office of the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney had handled a prior prosecution of Mr. Arbery and that one of the defendants in this case had also served as an investigator on the same prosecution. The request of April 7, 2020 did not provide any reason for the delay in contacting the Office of the Attorney General to request appointment of a new prosecutor since the discovery of those facts. Nor did the request of April 7, 2020, reveal that, on April 2, 2020, the Waycross Circuit District Attorney had provided the Glynn County Police Department with a written opinion that no arrests should be made in the case. In that letter, the Waycross District Attorney also confirmed “an initial opinion the day after the shooting” which would have been February 24, 2020. At that time, he had not requested, nor was he appointed by the Office of the Attorney General to this case.
On April 13, 2020, the Office of the Attorney General appointed the District Attorney for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit to this case. On May 5, 2020, the Atlantic Circuit District Attorney requested that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) conduct an investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arbery. The GBI commenced its investigation on May 6, 2020 and made two arrests on May 7, 2020.
The Trump DOJ? They’ll recommend the shooter for a Medal of FreedomReport
Probably why they did it, let Trump take the heat for letting killers walk.Report
Wait, am I reading that correctly, that one of the guys who murdered Arbery previously served as an investigator working for the prosecution in a case involving Arbery? They had history?Report
Worked for the DA that recused, yes.Report
Two DAs recused themselves. The first was within days, the second (George Barnhill) took weeks and is the one that wrote that the defendants shouldn’t be charged when the case was again transferred.
My suspicion is that this is going to be another situation where the explosive racial angle overshadows the more banal issues of oversight, conflicts of interest, and special treatment among law enforcement.Report
But this:
Suggests to me that the senior McMichael potentially knew who Arbery was.Report
and likely viewed him as a criminal element, so when they saw him go by (assuming they weren’t out looking for him), they felt like they had cause to pursue him.Report