Ahmad Arbery's murderers, as I'm sure you all know, were free as birds for

[raccoon]

TWO MONTHS before LEO got off their butts and did their jobs.

I don’t know who dropped the ball… The DA, the local sheriffs office, the local police department, whoever. But it sure seems to me like somebody’s heads ought to roll for that.

Who dropped the ball?

[Yonnie3]

1. Worse than a dropped ball

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/former-da-indicted-allegedly-showing-favor-men-accused-killing-ahmaud-n1278416

Former DA indicted after allegedly 'showing favor' to men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery
Jacquelyn Lee Johnson is accused of violation of oath of public officer and obstruction of a police officer in her handling of the case, the Georgia attorney general announced.

Sept. 2, 2021, 5:37 PM EDT / Updated Sept. 3, 2021, 12:55 PM ED

By Doha Madani

A former Georgia district attorney was indicted Thursday by a grand jury, which said she showed preference to the men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery last year.

The former prosecutor, Jacquelyn Lee Johnson, was indicted on charges of violation of oath of public officer and obstruction of a police officer, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced. Johnson was the Brunswick Judicial Circuit district attorney when Arbery, 25, a Black man, was shot in February 2020. Johnson ultimately lost re-election in November.

-----snipped-----

[Monohull]

7. In a just world

That DA would be charged as an accessory to murder.

[2naSalit]

15. +1

[MoonRiver]

19. Accessory After the Fact would be the appropriate charge.

[uponit7771]

20. +1, looks like text book accessory after the fact

[secondwind]

27. Doesn't "accessory" imply that a person was at the murder site....

[Monohull]

28. Accessory after the fact.

If you drive to my house with a dead body in your trunk of someone you killed. And, I help you hide it. I would be an accessory after the fact.

[Skittles]

47. as a fan of true crime shows

it astounds me how often that happens.....where do they find friends like that? Mine would go straight to the cops, as would I!

[asiliveandbreathe]

38. She, Johnson, turned herself in Wednesday...

https://democraticunderground.com/100216086433

And Barnhill..the outside prosecutor SHE suggested..he wrote a letter saying the slaying was justified..down he goes..(info further down thread at link)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

23. She took the ball and threw it in a lake (photo)

[Eugene]

2. It was an airtight cover-up until a lawyer leaked the video, thinking it was exculpatory.

'They almost got away with it': How a leaked video led to convictions in the Ahmaud Arbery case

The men might have walked free had a leaked video not prompted calls for attention to Arbery's death.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/-almost-got-away-leaked-video-led-convictions-ahmaud-arbery-case-rcna6690

[Demovictory9]

3. I recall there were all kinds of friendly relationships between parties

[Eugene]

5. "favor and affection" according to the state indictment

see reply #1

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/former-da-indicted-allegedly-showing-favor-men-accused-killing-ahmaud-n1278416

[sop]

26. The lawyer, Alan Tucker, actually thought the video would exonerate the McMichaels.

Tucker had initially consulted with the men, but ended up not representing them. Apparently, the police and prosecutor already had the video showing Arbery's murder, and were covering up the crime.

The GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) took over the investigation and assigned a new prosecutor only after the video was leaked to the media. It demonstrates how corrupt and racist local cops and prosecutors are, and why police body cam videos are often hidden from public view.

[ShazzieB]

40. It completely blows my mind that those thugs thought that video would make them look GOOD.

That is the biggest irony of all to me. That lawyer leaked the video, with the perps' cooperation, because he and they were ALL so stupid and racist that they thought it was exculpatory! Mind. Blown.

But thank whatever gods may be for epic stupidity, because if not for the leak, the whole thing would have been buried and those fools would still be free as birds.

[H2O Man]

30. +1

[48656c6c6f20]

4. It's still a white Georgia

I was watching CNN followup this morning and saw one of the convicted murderers leaving the court house handcuffed in front. How would a black person convicted of murder left the court room? My guess is fully shackled.

[panader0]

6. Why didn't the stupid racist murderers flee when they had the chance?

Surely they knew they had murdered a man. So many criminals seems quite stupid. Not only is
killing someone morally and legally wrong, but their failure to realize how much trouble they were
in is headshakingly dumb.

[PCIntern]

8. Because they watch the old footage

Of the residents of the area wherein the three civil rights workers were murdered in the 60s. These guys think this stuff is funny. I have a neighbor who could have easily participated in this. He has the same sense of “humor”.

[H2O Man]

32. And that's it.

They believed they were justified, and had done a good thing.

[SergeStorms]

9. Racism itself....

"is head-shakingly dumb". These white supremacists still lived - at least in their minds - in a Georgia where racism is commonplace. They'll never understand that what they did was wrong.

Georgia, and other states as well, are still in the process of changing. Trump emboldened these racist holdouts to a point where they imagined the clock was being turned back to a time when racism was not only accepted, but was encouraged.

[True Dough]

10. It's a brazen disregard for the lives of Black people

They thought their flimsy story, with or without video, would be taken at face value. Nothing of value was lost, they thought.

Rot in jail, bastards!

[peggysue2]

12. I think they were relying on the history

And that history told them that they--like many white men before them--would never be held accountable. Even releasing the video was part and parcel of that belief. Exculpatory in nature, they thought. And they had the good ole boys' network on their side, up to and including the DA.

So yeah, stupid, amoral but within their expectations that they would remain free even after a grotesque murder. Because history told them they had every right to do so.

The jury shattered that belief.

[Thomas Hurt]

25. Christofascist hero cult...they were "heros" saved white murica from the black man and tried to use

it as a defense.

[TNNurse]

11. Intentional actions, no ball dropping at all.

Evil racists thought they could succeed.

[2naSalit]

16. Exactly.

[H2O Man]

33. +1

[cab67]

13. racism was part of it, but maybe not all of it.

Gregory McMichael is a former cop and had worked as an investigator for the DA's office. I thus wonder how much "blue wall of silence" shit was involved in the decision to not arrest or prosecute them.

(Like I said - I have no doubt that racism was at the core of all of this. I just wonder whether cops letting cops walk may have also been a factor.)

[2naSalit]

17. I think that...

You don't have to wonder, It's SOP for most of them and especially in cases like these.

[Delmette2.0]

36. The father knew better.

As a former cop then investigator he knew what was legal and what isn't.

[cab67]

39. Absolutely.

So did the other cops. So did the prosecutor.

We're starting to see cops get prosecuted for these sorts of things, but there's still way too little accountability.

[recovering_democrat]

14. It is still Georgia

I lived there 60+ years, the state-wide behaviors are consistent with this situation. Less horrible in urban areas. I spend a few months there every year. It is the same in much of the state. This is a HUGE difference for Georgia. Maybe it will cause more people to think.

Join me in Thanksgiving for this step which is really a huge step.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

18. As a Texan, I envy Georgians

They are making progress. We’re goin backward.

[2Gingersnaps]

21. Same here in Ohio.

If you were on social media yesterday, the outrage of the entitled was as palpable as the glee from Rittenhouse. Too soon to say if this baby step in the right direction is a trend. But knock me over with a feather that the step was taken. Don't want to be such a pessimist..........but I have 60 years of being too hopeful behind me.

[uponit7771]

22. +1, That's cause Texas is last on voter access which is worse than voter suppression. It's the reaso

... reason why the Gov of TX can go around pimp slapping infants and taking women's rights away and the Lt Gov of the state can literally brag on live TV about taking peoples ability to vote by mail away.

Its going backwards cause they're taking away peoples ability to vote

[Hortensis]

34. Yes. GA's culture is still strongly authoritarian.

It's not just the authorities who believe in special standards for themselves; a lot of the people do also and will support it. This isn't a race thing in itself, but an authoritarian mentality thing. In this case, the older McMichael was a former sheriff's deputy and investigator for the DA's office.

As one of the cartoons JHB posted said, I give thanks for video evidence. A leaked recording brought the GA Dept of Investigation down on them.

And the big problem with choosing this GA jury was that, because of the recording the murderers made of themselves hunting down and murdering Arbery, people overwhelmingly already believed they did it.

[llmart]

37. +1

I lived in North Carolina for ten years in the 80's and 90's. I wanted to believe that this sort of racism was dying out, but so much of what I experienced and saw and heard in that decade opened my eyes to how many Southerners had no qualms about showing their racism.

[BlackSkimmer]

24. Are any of these murderous fools married? Have kids?

Seems like I never heard anything about any families. Just curious.

[exboyfil]

31. The sister posted pictures of Arbery's dead body

on the internet if you want to know something about the family.

[BlackSkimmer]

43. I don't want to see pictures of Arbury dead, but thanks.

Just wondered if there were kids that were having to deal with having shithead fathers.

[ShazzieB]

41. Well, two of them are father and son.

Don't know if there are any siblings, but McMichael Sr. had at least one kid. (AFAIK, Jr. Is unmarried.)

[BlackSkimmer]

45. Yeah, I knew that much.

Somehow I’m not surprised Jr is unmarried lol.

I was wondering most about the one I call “bowl cut guy”. I thought I read he had a wife somewhere. He actually looked like he was going to burst into tears yesterday; I really think he thought he’d get off.

[CatWoman]

48. during the trail the defense revealed that he was basically new to the area

as he was tired of renting and recently purchased his house with his girlfriend.

BTW -- Did you guys know he is under GBI investigation for child molestation?

https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2020/07/29/man-who-recorded-ahmaud-arbery-death-faces-child-molestation-investigation/

[a kennedy]

29. 74 days.......before anything was even started. 😡 😡 😡

[llashram]

35. people with

hate in their hearts. THERE ARE 65MILLION PLUS more out there. The last election proved it. Note counting those roaming the halls of Congress spitting hate and racist venom.

[ShazzieB]

42. I just realized something.

Not counting those roaming the halls of Congress spitting hate and racist venom.

I knew Republicans were snakes, but I just realized what kind: spitting cobras! 😁

[llashram]

49. yuk-yuk

[Skittles]

46. tried to sabotage the ball

get it right