BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — The case against a former Georgia district attorney charged with discouraging police from arresting the man who killed Ahmaud Arbery in 2020 took a blow Thursday as a police supervisor testified that the accused prosecutor never obstructed her during the investigation.
Jackie Johnson was the chief prosecutor for coastal Glynn County when Arbery was chased by white men in pickup trucks and fatally shot in a quiet subdivision nearly five years ago. She is standing trial on charges that she violated her oath of office and hindered police in the aftermath of the young Black man's killing.
Stephanie Oliver, Glynn County's assistant police chief, is one of two officers named in the indictment that charges Johnson with “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.” McMichael is the man seen in a cellphone video shooting Arbery point-blank with a shotgun.
Called as a prosecution witness Thursday, Oliver denied under cross-examination any effort by Johnson or anyone in her office to obstruct her when she was supervising investigators assigned to Arbery's killing.
“Tell the ladies and gentlemen of the jury how Jackie Johnson knowingly and willfully hindered you and directed you not to arrest Travis McMichael,” defense attorney Brian Steel asked Oliver, paraphrasing the language in the indictment.
Oliver replied: “I never had any interaction with Ms. Johnson during this case.”
The second officer Johnson is charged with obstructing, Stephan Lowrey, wasn't called as a witness before court adjourned Thursday.
Travis McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael, armed themselves with guns and pursued 25-year-old Arbery after he ran past their home on Feb. 23, 2020. A neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, joined the chase and recorded cellphone video of the shooting.
Greg McMichael had retired months earlier from his job as an investigator in Johnson's office. He called her cellphone an hour after the shooting and left a voicemail asking for help.
Two months passed without arrests in the case after the McMichaels told police they suspected Arbery was a thief and that Travis McMichael shot him in self-defense. The video of the shooting leaked online two months later, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case from local police. All three men were arrested and later convicted of murder as well as federal hate crimes.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr's office indicted Johnson in 2021, arguing that she abused her power to delay arrests and influence the appointment of an outside prosecutor who had decided Arbery's killing wasn't a crime.
Johnson has denied wrongdoing, insisting she immediately recused her office and reached out to a neighboring district attorney, George Barnhill, to advise police. He became the first of three outside prosecutors assigned to Arbery's killing. Barnhill met with Glynn County police the day after the shooting.
In the courtroom Thursday, prosecutor John Fowler asked Oliver about that meeting. She said that investigators presented evidence including the cellphone video to Barnhill, who after about two hours rendered an opinion that the shooting appeared to be justified.
Fowler asked Oliver how much influence Barnhill's opinion had as police considered their next steps.
“When a prosecuting authority tells you there weren’t any laws broken, it would be pretty difficult for us to do otherwise,” Oliver replied, though she said Barnhill agreed with police that further investigation was warranted.
Fowler never asked Oliver if she spoke with Johnson or was advised by anyone in Johnson's office not to make arrests. He objected to Oliver answering those questions from Johnson's defense attorney, but was overruled by the judge.
Jurors also heard from Karen Crittendon, who as a paralegal in the attorney general’s office spent years finding outside prosecutors to take cases for district attorneys with conflicts. Crittendon said she received a letter from Johnson a few days after the shooting requesting the appointment of another prosecutor. Crittendon said she called Johnson for more information.
“She told me she had already reached out to Mr. Barnhill and he agreed to help her with the case,” said Crittendon, who wrote up the paperwork for Barnhill's official appointment.
Prosecutors say Johnson violated her oath by recommending Barnhill without disclosing he had already told police the shooting of Arbery was justified. Her letter that preceded the phone call doesn't mention Barnhill.
After two days of testimony in Johnson's trial, her defense attorneys have seized other opportunities to turn prosecution witnesses to their advantage.
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery’s mother, said the family remains confident that prosecutors will build a strong case.
“They’re still going to have to present witnesses to tie up what Jackie Johnson’s culpability was,” Merritt said. “And I don’t think they’re there yet.”
