BRUNSWICK, Ga. (CN) — A former Georgia prosecutor facing misconduct charges for using her position to shield the men who chased and killed Ahmaud Arbery from being immediately arrested after the shootings testified in her own trial Tuesday.
Former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson confirmed she had seven phone conversations with Greg McMichael after Arbery’s death but told the jury she never met with him in person.
The white father and his son Travis McMichael were convicted of murder and federal hate crimes for arming themselves and pursuing the 25-year-old Black man in a pickup truck through their neighborhood outside the coastal city of Brunswick, about 70 miles south of Savannah.
Greg McMichael had worked as an investigator in Johnson’s office but retired in 2019. Prosecutors presented evidence showing he called Johnson’s cellphone and left her a voice message soon after the shooting occurred.
“Jackie, this is Greg,” he said, according to a recording of the call. “Could you call me as soon as you possibly can? My son and I have been involved in a shooting, and I need some advice right away.”
Johnson testified that she did not return McMichael’s call until the following day, after she had spoken with Bill Daras, the Glynn County police department’s lead investigator on the case. She said Daras informed her that Greg McMichael’s son had been involved in a shooting with someone who was breaking into a home under construction and tried to grab his shotgun.
“I told him my office could not be involved in the case,” Johnson said on the stand.
The 52-year-old, who spent a decade as district attorney of the five-county Brunswick Judicial Circuit, testified that she answered another call from Greg McMichael on March 8, 2020. But Johnson claimed they only discussed local politics and news reports of her facing a challenger to her reelection bid.
The other five phone calls made in April were solely related to threats circulating online toward Greg McMichael and his family, Johnson testified.
More than two months passed after the killing on Feb. 23, 2020, before any arrests were made, spurring chaos throughout the small coastal community and Satilla Shores neighborhood where the murder took place. Johnson said she called Greg McMichael out of safety concerns and to tell him to stop sitting outside in his driveway and “enticing violence.”
Johnson’s attorney Brian Steel, who represented hip-hop artist Young Thug in another recent high-profile case, argued that Johnson immediately recused herself from taking the case and that police told her the killing appeared to be out of self-defense.
She then contacted George E. Barnhill — then district attorney of the neighboring Waycross Judicial Circuit — and asked if he would be willing to meet with police about the case but said she never told him to protect either of the McMichaels. A few days later, Johnson’s office sent an official recusal letter to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office informing them they would need to find another prosecutor for the case due to a conflict of interest.
It wasn’t until May, when a cellphone video captured by William “Roddie” Bryan, a neighbor who joined the chase and was also convicted, leaked online showing Travis McMichael shooting Arbery at close range with a shotgun. Johnson said when she viewed the video, “it looked like murder,” and that she then informed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation of the voicemails she had from Greg McMichael.
Through tears, Johnson said that when she saw Arbery’s mother after, she grabbed her hand and said, “I’m so sorry about your son.”
But Arbery’s family, who filled the courtroom Tuesday, appeared unpersuaded by Johnson’s teary-eyed testimony and shook their heads when she refuted ever attempting to block the McMichaels from being arrested.
State prosecutors attempted to show the jury that Johnson had performed favors for Greg McMichael before. Deputy State Attorney General John Fowler pointed to a letter she sent to the Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training Council asking them to reinstate Greg McMichael’s certification as an investigator so that he could properly retire from working with her office.
“I was willing to give him a chance to get there,” said Johnson.
The indictment, brought in September 2021, claims Johnson showed “favor and affection” toward Greg McMichael in the investigation and interfered with police officers at the scene by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”
On Monday, Senior Judge for the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Superior Court John R. Turner ordered the acquittal of one of the two misconduct charges against Johnson, ruling that prosecutors failed to present any evidence that she obstructed the police investigation.
Jurors heard from 14 witnesses during the first week of the trial that kicked off last week, but none of them indicated Johnson instructed any officers to not make an arrest.
Johnson’s remaining felony charge of violating her oath of office remains in place for now, although her attorneys continue to seek a full acquittal.
The case has thrust the inner workings of the small town’s court operations into the spotlight again after being roiled by the tragic murder, as Arbery’s family and state prosecutors seek to prevent any future prejudicial misconduct.
Of the 12 trial jurors selected, nine are women and three are men. Ten of the jurors are white, one is Asian American, and one is Black.