Judge Kevin Farmer says he intends to dismiss most charges in the Georgia AG’s sweeping RICO indictment on the grounds that the AG’s office did not obtain proper authorization to bring parts of the indictment
This article was co-written by Sam Barnes and Aja Arnold.
Motions hearings for the ongoing Cop City RICO case resumed Wednesday morning for the third and final day this week, following Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer’s statement that he will likely dismiss arson and racketeering charges brought by the Georgia Attorney General against dozens of protesters.
It’s been over two years since the Georgia AG indicted 61 people on racketeering and conspiracy charges for their protest of or opposition to the massive $109 million police militarization facility colloquially known as Cop City. The RICO indictment, filed in Fulton County, is one of the largest of its kind in U.S. history. Some legal experts and organizers have described the indictment as “broad and overreaching,” as well as an alarming attack on the First Amendment and constitutionally protected political speech.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Farmer found that the racketeering charges had been improperly brought by the AG’s office, as it failed to obtain proper authorization from the governor’s office to do so. Georgia law permits the AG’s office to pursue some types of criminal charges without authorization from the governor’s office, such as so-called “anti-gang” laws. Racketeering and arson charges, however, do not fall in those categories. Deputy Attorney General John Fowler also admitted in court that his office had not obtained this authorization, though he believed that it was not needed. Farmer was not persuaded by those arguments.
“I think it would have been real easy to ask the governor,” said Farmer during Tuesday’s proceedings regarding prosecutorial authorization. “The mechanisms were in place and the steps just weren’t followed.”
He further stated that he intended to grant the defense’s motion to dismiss the racketeering charges on that basis. Arson charges brought against five of the 61 defendants in the same indictment are also likely to be dismissed due to a similar lack of proper authorization, according to Farmer.
However, Farmer did acknowledge that the AG’s office had authority to bring domestic terrorism charges against the same five defendants. Wednesday’s hearing went ahead so that challenges to those charges on other grounds could be heard.
Attorneys for the defense argued that Georgia’s 2017 domestic terrorism statute violates Georgia’s constitution on multiple fronts, saying that the law criminalizes lawful speech protected by the First Amendment, that the requirements a crime must meet to be considered domestic terrorism are overly broad and vague, and that the Georgia General Assembly did not follow proper legislative procedure when it passed the bill.
Organizers say that the lingering domestic terrorism charges, the pending prosecution of John Mazurek, the ongoing grief and hardship following the violent police killing of Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Terán, and remaining public distrust towards city and state government mean that there is still more work and accountability needed to rectify all the harm Cop City has caused.
“This story is far from over,” said Marlon Kautz, one of the organizers of Atlanta Solidarity Fund and defendants in the indictment, during Wednesday’s press conference. “It is not enough to watch the state flail and stumble in their arguments. It’s not enough to see this prosecution failing. These defendants need accountability from the police, the prosecutors, and the politicians who conspired to bring these false charges against us.”
After the hearing, supporters celebrated the news of the likely dismissal of racketeering charges outside of the courthouse under the watchful gaze of several Fulton County law enforcement agencies. Officers repeatedly blared sirens at the crowd, and pushed gatherers away from the only shaded area along the sidewalk.
At the time of this writing, it is not yet known when Judge Farmer will rule on these motions. He affirmed his intent to throw out, at minimum, the racketeering charges stating, “The court intends to set count one aside.” This has yet to be finalized through a written ruling.
This is an ongoing story and we will continue to report on it as it develops.
