Prosecutor who 'shielded' Ahmaud Arbery's killers hit with criminal misconduct charges

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that the former Georgia prosecutor accused of shielding the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery has been indicted on criminal misconduct charges.

"A grand jury in coastal Glynn County indicted former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson on charges of violating her oath of office and hindering a law enforcement officer," said the report. "Arbery was killed Feb. 23, 2020, after a white father and son, Greg and Travis McMichael, armed themselves and pursued the 25-year-Black man in a pickup truck after spotting him running in their neighborhood outside the coastal city of Brunswick. A neighbor, William 'Roddie' Bryan joined the chase and took cellphone video of Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun."

The McMichaels have denied any wrongdoing, claiming that they believed Arbery to be a burglar in a neighborhood plagued by a recent string of break-ins.

According to the investigation into Johnson's conduct, she showed "favor and affection" toward Greg McMichael — who used to work in her office — and tried to order police officers at the scene "that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest."

Johnson denies wrongdoing, arguing that she recused herself from the case properly. She ultimately lost re-election to the prosecutor's office in 2020 after the controversy.

Arbery's death refueled the national conversation on racial profiling and disproportionate deadly force against Black people — a controversy further inflamed by the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.