Protesters in Marietta, Ga., hold up a sign that reads “Drop the Charges!” at the June 17 pretrial motions hearing for the Cobb County 3. Photo courtesy of Weelaunee the Free/2026.
The court’s decision is the most recent in a series of blows against the state’s attempts to convict protesters in the grassroots movement
COBB COUNTY, GA.—In a pretrial motions hearing on Wed., June 17, Cobb County Senior Judge Robert E. Flournoy III dismissed felony charges against Stop Cop City activists Hannah Kass, Katie Kloth, and Tyler Norman, who supporters call the “Cobb County 3.” The charges were dismissed on due process violations by the Attorney General’s office.
The dismissal comes just one week after the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia filed a federal indictment against Kloth and Norman. According to a press statement from the defense team, federal charges of arson and intimidation were levied by the U.S. Attorney’s Office last Tuesday, related to the same May 2022 demonstration at the headquarters of “Cop City” contractors Brasfiled and Gorrie. The Department of Justice has linked the federal indictment to the National Security Presidential Memorandum-7, a controversial law enforcement directive introduced by the Trump Administration that has been described by critics as a “declaration of war on anybody who does not support the Trump administration or its agenda.”
On April 24, the Attorney General office indicted the Cobb County 3 with felony charges of property damage and arson of lands for their alleged involvement in a protest four years prior. The three defendants were also among the 61 individuals charged with racketeering and conspiracy, also known as “RICO,” in August 2023. The racketeering charges were dismissed in December 2025 on the grounds that the prosecuting office did not obtain permission from the governor to file those charges in Fulton County. The decision has since been appealed by the Attorney General, who is currently running for governor.
The 61 RICO defendants were arrested on different dates from 2022 to 2023 at various locations across Georgia, including the South River Music Fest in Weelaunee Forest in March 2023. The defendants and their supporters consider the RICO charges, the pending appeal, and these latest indictments to be politically motivated. Attorneys say the defendants have had their lives upended as a result of the charges, including job losses, housing insecurity, career disruptions, and travel restrictions, in addition to the stress and anxiety that comes from the threat of years in prison hanging over their heads.
“We are glad Judge Flournoy reached the correct conclusion: the Attorney General violated the due process rights of the Cobb County 3 through its 47-month-old indictment,” said defense attorney Xavier T. de Janon of the People’s Law Collective in an official press statement following yesterday’s proceedings. “Once again, a trial court in Georgia checked the State’s powers against old cases stemming from a powerful social movement. Dr. Kass maintains her innocence in Cobb, in Fulton, and across Georgia. She will seek justice for the State’s malicious prosecutions.”
After the case was dismissed, Kass described the difficulties she faced in the last four years due to the long-delayed RICO trial followed by the Cobb County indictment.
“I have had prison time hanging over my head for four years and struggled to secure stable employment after earning my PhD due to Attorney General Chris Carr’s continuous weaponization of political prosecutions against me and my comrades,” she said in an official press statement following the hearing. “The state admitted on the court record that the delay in our case was strategic and intentional … Now we have the precedent and the court record to help free any of the other RICO 61 they try to target with this strategy.”
Today’s decision marks the second time a judge has dismissed cases orginating from the Stop Cop City movement on due process violations. Fifteen other cases from Dekalb County are currently being considered for dismissal based on the same due process arguments.
The Stop Cop City movement has drawn national attention amid ongoing prosecutions of protesters, organizers, and supporters who opposed the project. State and federal prosecution gained momentum especially since the violent police killing of 26-year-old climate activist Tortuguita in the public park near the Cop City construction site in January 2023. Supporters of the defendants have criticized the prosecutions as part of a broader effort to criminalize protest and chill dissent against a deeply unpopular City of Atlanta project, which was pushed forward by a constellation of multinational corporations embedded into the prison industrial complex of the United States. In 2023, the people of Atlanta again expressed their widespread rejection of this project through the widespread Cop City Vote public referendum campaign, which has been in legal limbo since the City of Atlanta first refused to count the ballots in September 2023.
Joshua Schiffer, counsel for Cobb County 3 defendant Kloth said, “I’m pleased the Court recognized the political machinations and manipulations flowing from the Attorney General‘s office in this untimely selective prosecution of political speech. Our court system requires the fair application of our laws and rejects vindictive lawfare based on political, moral, ethical, or religious positions. President Trump even told prosecutors to stop doing exactly that.”
