More than 200 potential jurors summoned for trial of prosecutor in Ahmaud Arbery’s death

BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — More than 200 potential jurors were summoned Tuesday to a Georgia courthouse for questioning about whether they can serve impartially in the trial of a former prosecutor accused of meddling with police as they investigated the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery.

Jackie Johnson served as district attorney when Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was chased by three white men in pickup trucks and fatally shot on a residential street. Johnson’s misconduct trial will be held in the same courthouse where Arbery’s assailants were convicted of murder in 2021.

Senior Judge John R. Turner dismissed 15 potential jurors Tuesday after they were questioned individually in court and said they had already formed firm opinions about the case based on what they had seen in news reports and social media posts or heard from family members.

More than 40 others were excused based on their written answers to a questionnaire asking if they held biases or would suffer hardships by serving on the jury.

“She interfered with the investigation and let convicted murderers go,” one man wrote on a questionnaire that potential jurors filled out before coming to court. He was excused after telling lawyers in court that Johnson had given Arbery’s assailants “special treatment.”

The judge also dismissed a woman who said she had “pretty much” decided Johnson should be acquitted.

“I don’t really think what she did was wrong,” the woman said, adding: ”Jackie Johnson was just doing her job.”

Also excused from serving were a man who said the prosecution of Johnson ”smells like a witch hunt to me” and another who had written that most attorneys “seem like egotistical jerks and are arrogant.”

The judge said he expects jury selection to continue at least through Friday, as the threat of winter weather caused delays. Turner adjourned court early Tuesday afternoon ahead of forecast snow showers. And he canceled court Wednesday, when local schools will be closed because of expected snow and ice.

Officials summoned a large pool of potential jurors given the notoriety of Arbery’s killing and Johnson’s public profile during her decade as the top prosecutor in coastal Glynn County.

About 210 people showed up for jury duty Tuesday, Superior Court Clerk Rebecca Walden said. Her office mailed out notices to 500 people, but some were excused earlier or their mailings were returned as undeliverable.

Potential jurors will be asked what they’ve read or heard about Arbery’s killing and the case against Johnson, and whether they’re able to serve impartially. Walden said she suspects it could take a week to select a jury of 12 members plus alternates.

Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for Johnson’s office, started the pursuit with his son Travis McMichael on Feb. 23, 2020, after Arbery ran past his home just outside the port city of Brunswick. Travis McMichael killed Arbery with a shotgun at point-blank range as a neighbor who joined the chase, William “Roddie” Bryan, recorded the shooting on his cellphone. The men later said they wrongly suspected Arbery was a thief.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office is prosecuting Johnson. Prosecutors say she abused her office by trying to shield the McMichaels, who along with Bryan avoided arrest for more than two months until the shooting video leaked online.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation then took over the case from local police. All three men were arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. They were also found guilty of federal hate crimes in a separate 2022 trial.

Johnson was indicted in September 2021 on a charge of violating her oath of office, a felony punishable by one to five years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of hindering police as they investigated Arbery’s death. The indictment says Johnson showed “favor and affection” toward Greg McMichael and interfered with police by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”

Johnson has denied wrongdoing, insisting she immediately handed the case to an outside prosecutor because of her connection to Greg McMichael. She was voted out of office in November 2020, a defeat she largely blamed on controversy over Arbery’s death.

Russ Bynum, The Associated Press