BRUNSWICK, Ga. — The former Georgia district attorney charged with violating her oath of office during the Ahmaud Arbery investigation returned to court on Wednesday.
Jackie Johnson is accused of purposely delaying the prosecution of three men who were eventually convicted in Arbery’s death.
Arbery was gunned down while jogging through a neighborhood in Glynn County, Georgia in 2020.
Johnson showed little emotion as attorneys debated several motions during Wednesday’s pre-trial hearing.
Johnson’s defense attorney requested the Georgia Attorney General’s Office be disqualified from the case, claiming the defense intends to call the state’s top cop as a witness during the trial.
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“If he’s a witness in the case, then he can’t prosecute the case,” defense attorney Brian Steel argued.
It was a request strongly opposed by the state.
“By trying to make Attorney General Carr a witness by speculation, without subpoenaing him and trying to come up with some vague reason, they’re trying to get this case into a place where it cannot go forward any further,” Deputy Attorney General John Fowler said.
The defense also renewed a motion to dismiss the case entirely, claiming a key witness’s testimony was not recorded during a grand jury hearing.
“The portions that I know, I believe in good faith, I do not have is a critical witness,” Steel said.
But prosecutors argued there was no legal obligation to document the testimony.
“We gave them testimony of other witnesses, which is actually more than is required under the statute. We did even more than is required under the statute and we turned over all their testimonies to them,” Fowler said.
The judge did not make any rulings on Wednesday.
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