Merely sixty minutes subsequent to the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery by his son, Greg McMichael picked up the phone and rang the area’s top state prosecutor, his former employer. ‘We’ve just been part of a shooting incident, I require counsel immediately.’, McMichael reportedly communicated in a voicemail message to DA Jackie Johnson’s cellphone. The unfortunate incident was captured on video, eventually leading to the indictment of McMichael, his grown-up son Travis McMichael, and their fellow denizen of the community, William ‘Roddie’ Bryan. The aforementioned trio, all Caucasian males who utilized both firearms and pickup vehicles in an attempt to apprehend the young, 25-year-old African American man, now each face lifetime incarcerations due to convictions on counts of murder and federal hate crimes.
Yet, the three men managed to elude arrest for over eight weeks, a period throughout which conversational contact between McMichael and Johnson was kept up, as illustrated by the evidence from court documents. An approximate half-decade after the occurrence, Johnson now finds herself on the cusp of facing court proceedings on accusations of manipulating her official position to obfuscate the police’s attempt to investigate Arbery’s murder. The process of selecting the jury is set to begin this coming Tuesday, taking place in Brunswick, a place of commerce located 70 miles due south of Savannah.
Ahmaud Arbery was known for his frequent running and often could be seen running through the Satilla Shores subdivision, which is where he met his tragic end. Positioned within coastal Glynn County, it was a mere distance of less than 2 miles from where he lived. On that fateful day of September 23, 2020, as Arbery sprinted by McMichaels’ domain, both father and son gave pursuit, each armed with a gun. Bryan, having joined the chase, drove his own vehicle and managed to capture the ordeal on his mobile device.
In the captured video, the McMichaels could be seen halting their vehicle ahead of Arbery, which forced him to attempt evasion by running around them. As the dramatic scene unfolded, the video highlighted Travis McMichael open firing on Arbery from a point-blank range while they struggled over McMichael’s shotgun. Upon arrival, the police discovered that Arbery had neither any weapons nor stolen goods on his person, but the three were still allowed to return to their homes.
Official records cited Greg McMichael alleging that their suspicion of Arbery was due to perceived thefts from a nearby house under construction and that his son’s shots were fired in an act of self-defense. The case was subsequently transferred to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation from the local law enforcement authority. Post transfer, the McMichaels were promptly arrested, and in a fortnight, Bryan was taken into custody.
During the time of Arbery’s demise, Johnson was in service as the district attorney for southeast Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit for the past ten years. Greg McMichael was actually under her employ as an investigator before he chose to step down into retirement in 2019. Post the incident, the responsibility fell to a district attorney from an adjoining district, George Barnhill, who was the initial choice among three outside prosecutors chosen to take over the case.
Johnson has been formally accused of breaching her office oath, a grave crime that carries a penalty of imprisonment for a period ranging from one to five years. The allegation maintains that she leveraged her standing to exhibit ‘favor and affection’ towards Greg McMichael. Johnson also faces a misdemeanor charge — hindering law enforcement officials as they probed the incident — by allegedly advising, specifically, against the arrest of Travis McMichael.
However, Johnson dismissed the claims in a statement back in 2020 that her office never advised the police against making any arrests. During a December pretrial hearing, her principal defense attorney, Brian Steel, maintained that Johnson was preoccupied with a separate high-profile indictment and was thus unaware of developments in Ahmaud Arbery’s case.
While specific details surrounding the trial evidence are not in the public domain, it has been stated in court documents that about 16 phone conversations were facilitated between the cellphone numbers of Greg McMichael and Johnson in the aftermath of the shooting whether this has any significance will soon play out when jury selection begins as scheduled.