A Fulton County judge said Tuesday that he is likely to toss out racketeering charges brought against dozens of opponents of a new police training center in Atlanta. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder
A Fulton County judge says he is likely to throw out racketeering charges filed against 61 people in connection with an alleged conspiracy to stop the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center because the Georgia Attorney General’s office lacked authority to bring the charges.
Georgia law specifies the circumstances when the Attorney General’s office may engage in criminal prosecution that might otherwise be handled by a local district attorney. To prosecute charges under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute, the attorney general’s office must seek authorization from the governor’s office. Deputy Attorney General John Fowler acknowledged that step had not been taken.
However, Fowler argued that it was not required due to a state agency, the Georgia State Patrol, being a victim in two acts that the prosecution claims are related to the alleged conspiracy – a 2020 fire at a Georgia State Patrol building that the prosecution claims was set by protesters and the 2023 shooting of a Georgia State Patrol trooper in the South River Forest near the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. A protester, Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, was killed by the Georgia State Patrol in the same incident.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer was unconvinced that these two incidents gave the attorney general’s office jurisdiction without the governor’s authorization. Farmer said the 2020 fire alone does not give the attorney general’s office authority to pursue the racketeering charges. He additionally noted that while the 2023 shooting is mentioned in the indictment, it is not claimed to be an act that furthered the alleged conspiracy to stop construction of the training center.
Gov. Brian Kemp praised the indictments at the time.
“I think it would have been real easy to ask the governor, let me do this, give me a letter,” Farmer said from the bench Tuesday. “The mechanisms were in place. And the steps just weren’t followed. It’s not that he couldn’t have gotten that letter, there are mechanisms in place whereby he could have brought this.”
Tuesday’s hearing dealt another blow to the indictment following a difficult hearing for the prosecution on Monday. Farmer compared parts of the indictment to a “bad political science paper” and repeatedly scolded the state’s attorneys on their unfamiliarity with parts of the indictment.
The sprawling indictment, pending since September 2023, also includes charges of domestic terrorism and arson brought against five of the 61 defendants. Court resumes Wednesday morning to discuss how, or if, Farmer will dismiss those additional charges.
Fowler stated in court that the court’s findings are “wholly incorrect” and that the attorney general’s office intends to immediately appeal the court’s ruling once it is finalized.
“The Attorney General will continue the fight against domestic terrorists and violent criminals who want to destroy life and property,” Kara Murray, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office, said in a statement Tuesday. “We strongly disagree with this decision and will appeal immediately.”
The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, often called Cop City by its opponents, formally opened in 2024 following years of protests both in the streets and in front of the Atlanta City Council. Opponents to the project have long criticized it as a symbol of what they see as an increasingly militarized police force, and on environmental grounds. Gubernatorial candidate and current Attorney General Chris Carr has long been a strong supporter of the project.
The Southern Center for Human Rights, which paired many of the defendants in the case with an attorney through its First Amendment Lawyer Bridge program, applauded the decision.
“We are grateful for the zealous representation provided by the attorneys in this case in defense of their clients and the First Amendment right to dissent. Whether paired by the Bridge or not, SCHR depends on our colleagues in the bar willing to stand firm in the face of political repression,” Tiffany Roberts, director of the center’s public policy unit, said in a statement.
The case is believed to be the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history.
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