Roughly an hour after his adult son, Travis McMichael, fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery, Greg McMichael sought advice from a past professional connection, the district’s leading state prosecutor. He left a voicemail on the cellphone of District Attorney Jackie Johnson, stating, ‘My son and I are implicated in a shooting, and I require immediate counsel.’ This tragic incident, captured on video, resulted in three white men – Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael, and their neighbor, William ‘Roddie’ Bryan – being indicted and eventually sentenced to life imprisonment for homicide and federal hate crimes.
Their actions with guns and trucks in an escalating confrontation against Arbery, a 25-year-old African-American man, incited widespread outrage. Despite this, for over two months, the three men remained at liberty, during which Greg McMichael and Johnson maintained telephonic contact, as divulged in court documentation. Fast forwarding to the present, nearly half a decade after the event, Johnson now faces her own court proceedings. Allegations suggest that she leveraged her professional position to obstruct the police investigation into Arbery’s murder.
Jury selection is set to kick off Tuesday in the coastal city of Brunswick, situated 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Savannah. In context, Ahmaud Arbery was known for regularly taking runs and his exercise routes frequently took him through the residential area of Satilla Shores, the location of his fateful incident within coastal Glynn County, mere miles from his residence.
On Sep. 23, 2020, a day that started ordinarily for Arbery with a routine run, resulted in a lethal confrontation. While he jogged past the McMichaels’ residence, the father-son duo armed themselves and pursued him. Bryan, their neighbor, got involved by tailing them in his truck while recording the dreadful incident on his smartphone. The footage displayed a chilling scene; the McMichaels halting Arbery’s escape path, prompting Arbery to attempt to sidestep them.
The video captures the moments leading to Travis McMichael firing his shotgun, killing Arbery at close range during a struggle over the weapon. When the police arrived, they found Arbery unarmed, with no stolen items on his person. Still, the McMichaels and Bryan were allowed to return home. The police report cited a statement from Greg McMichael suggesting they had suspected Arbery of theft from a nearby construction site and that Travis had used his firearm acting in self-defense.
As the case started gaining attention, management was handed over from the local law enforcement to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. It didn’t take long for the McMichaels to be taken into custody after this procedural transition, followed by Bryan’s arrest a fortnight later.
During the period of the incident, Jackie Johnson had been serving her second five-year term as the district attorney for southeast Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit. Greg McMichael, who had made a career in her office as an investigator, had retired only the previous year. Consequently, the first of three external prosecutors, George Barnhill, was reassigned to quarterback the case.
Johnson now finds herself facing serious charges. She is accused of felony violation of her oath of office by demonstrating ‘favor and affection’ to Greg McMichael due to her professional relationship. In addition, she has been indicted with a misdemeanor for supposedly hindering the police investigation into the shooting. The indictment alleges that she directed the authorities not to arrest Travis McMichael.
In a 2020 interview with The Associated Press, Johnson denied any allegations suggesting any communication from her office instructing law enforcement to refrain from making arrests. Johnson’s primary defense lawyer, Brian Steel, echoed this claim during a pretrial hearing in December. He stated Johnson had been focused on an unrelated high-profile indictment and was unaware of the developments surrounding Ahmaud Arbery’s case.
The details of the evidence that the prosecutors plan to introduce during the trial remain largely undisclosed. However, court records have revealed that a total of 16 phone calls were exchanged between the cellphones of Greg McMichael and Johnson in the weeks that followed the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.