DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — On Friday, Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne learned more about how the diary of 26-year-old Manuel Teran, also known as Tortuguita, is now at the center of a legal motion from the office of Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
Teran, a protester opposed to the Atlanta Public Safety Center, was shot and killed in January during a safety sweep of the property.
Pages of Teran’s alleged diary were accessed by Channel 2 Action News Friday.
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Teran’s alleged diary is now the focus of a motion by a deputy Georgia attorney general.
It’s connected to a massive racketeering case involving allegations that suggest the purpose of the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” was to occupy parts, or all, of the 381 forested acres in DeKalb County to prevent the training center’s construction.
Attorney Jennifer Hyman represents one of the 61 defendants charged in the RICO case.
“Everyone has maintained their innocence,” Hyman said. “There’s a vast and varied amount of challenges to this indictment.”
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The state’s motion for a pre-trial ruling on the admissibility of Teran’s diary suggests there was a January safety sweep by Georgia State Troopers.
Teran fired a gun at troopers from inside a tent and a trooper was hit in the torso. Troopers fired back and killed Teran.
The diary motion said “Teran often goes into detail about his hatred for police, current society, and the way he believes society should be. These statements are a glimpse into the mind of a ‘Forest Defender’ and the attitudes kept by Teran and his co-conspirators.”
Hyman told Channel 2 Action News that she did not “think it should be admissible” in court. “If the diary comes in somehow, I think it’s only gonna prove that these were acts of civil disobedience at most,” she said.
The legal motion from the AG’s office said portions of Teran’s diary are to-do lists and notes from meetings in the woods and points to a portion titled “Meeting Notes 4/21/21,” which it says has Teran listing four items:
- “Questions about lived experiences, political orientation, get to know them!”
- “Hang out with them!”
- “Strong probing questions”
- “Do crime!!”
Channel 2 Action News also viewed another page of the diary. While a date wasn’t visible, and it’s unknown if it was from while Teran was in the forest, it appeared under the heading “Ideas for Praxis.”
Handwritten entries ranged from performance art in public spaces to destruction of city property to sabotaging police equipment and vehicles, as well as evading arrest by any means necessary.
A cartoon was also visible on one page that appeared to say “Riot cops don’t want to give us rights so set them on fire!”
“We don’t know if it’s authentic or not yet,” Hyman said.
Hyman maintained that there was no conspiracy in response to questions from Winne.
Brian Spears, an attorney representing Teran’s parents, said they want access to the evidence the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and prosecutors used to draw their conclusions about how he died. Jeff Filipovits, also representing Teran’s parents, echoed that sentiment and said he doesn’t know of any criminal conspiracy that Teran was a part of.
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