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Criminal Justice

Judge apologizes to slain jogger Ahmaud Arbery’s family after tossing charges against district attorney

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 10, 2025, 9:21 am CST

A Georgia judge has tossed the charges against a prosecutor accused of favoring a former white investigator in her office before he was charged in the 2020 death of Black jogger Ahmaud Arbery.

Former Brunswick, Georgia, District Attorney Jackie Johnson had been charged with violating her oath of office and obstructing a police officer in the investigation that followed Arbery’s death. Her trial began in January, according to PBS News.

Judge John R. Turner of Glynn County, Georgia, granted a directed verdict on the obstruction charge Feb. 3 after concluding that prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence that Johnson obstructed the death investigation. Turner tossed the oath-violation charge two days later after defense lawyers argued that the indictment didn’t accuse Johnson of crimes in connection with the charge and listed the wrong oath of office.

Publications covering the tossed charges are Courthouse News Service, Law360 and the Associated Press.

Arbery, 25, was shot and killed after two white men pursued him in a pickup truck because they thought that he was a suspect in several break-ins in the area. A white neighbor who joined the pursuit in his truck recorded the incident on video. No arrests were made for more than two months.

The leaked video later showed that the shooter was Travis McMichael. His father, Gregory McMichael, a former police office who once worked for Johnson, had joined the chase. The man who shot the video was William “Roddie” Bryan. All three were convicted in November 2021, when jurors rejected arguments that they were making a citizen’s arrest and that Arbery was shot in self-defense when Arbery tried to grab a gun. They were also convicted of federal hate crimes in August 2022.

Several witnesses had testified that Johnson never directed anyone to refrain from arresting the McMichaels, according to Courthouse News Service. Johnson testified that she immediately recused herself from the case when she found out that her former employee was involved. When she saw the video, Johnson said, she thought that the slaying “looked like murder,” and she informed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about calls that she had received from Gregory McMichael.

Turner apologized to Arbery’s family members after tossing the final charge, according to Courthouse News Service.

“This is not a decision I wanted to make, but feel like I must,” he said.

Turner also said he feels “sadness for the death of this young man and what his family has gone through.”

Johnson was represented by lawyer Brian Steel, who also represented rapper Young Thug in a high-profile criminal trial. Steel said Johnson should not have been charged.

“It’s a sad day. Ahmaud Arbery was slaughtered for no reason, and then-Attorney General Chris Carr piggybacked one of the greatest tragedies in our state and nation and indicted an innocent woman,” Steel told Courthouse News Service.

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Criminal Justice

Murder trial delayed for slain law prof’s mother-in-law after her lead lawyer resigns

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 18, 2024, 1:21 pm CDT

A Florida woman accused in the July 2014 murder of her son-in-law, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law, won’t be going to trial in Tallahassee, Florida, this week because of the resignation of her lead attorney.

Lawyer Dan Rashbaum resigned Tuesday, the same day that jury selection was to begin in the murder trial of 74-year-old Donna Adelson, report the Tallahassee Democrat (here and here), WTXL and Florida Politics.

The resignation could open up possible new defense for Adelson, according to a lawyer on the defense team who is now her lead lawyer.

Rashbaum represented Donna Adelson and her son, dentist Charlie Adelson, who was convicted in November 2023 for hiring hit men to kill professor Dan Markel. Donna Adelson is accused of being part of the murder plot, allegedly carried out during a custody battle between Markel and Adelson’s daughter, Wendi Adelson. The alleged motive was to allow Wendi Adelson to move with the children from Tallahassee, Florida, to be near her family in Miami.

Charlie Adelson had contended at his trial that he was a victim of an extortion plot carried out by the two men who killed Markel.

Rashbaum cited a potential conflict of interest that arose after Charlie Adelson was subpoenaed to testify in his mother’s trial. On Monday, Charlie Adelson’s appellate team filed a notice advising that he didn’t consent to Rashbaum cross-examining him and no longer consented to Rashbaum representing his mother, according to Robert “Alex” Morris, Donna Adelson’s new lead lawyer.

Donna Adelson told Judge Stephen Everett in Leon County, Florida, that she consented to the joint representation. She was arrested at the Miami International Airport a week after Charlie Adelson’s conviction. She and her husband were buying one-way tickets to Vietnam.

Morris spoke with reporters outside the courthouse in an interview posted by WTXL.

Morris said everyone was aware of a potential conflict, but waivers were in place until Charlie Adelson revoked consent, as he had a right to do. That ended the “game plan, if you will, and necessitated a different one,” he said.

“Ultimately, the, the question is, is whether or not their positions are at odds with one another, and there’s absolutely the potential of that,” Morris said.

Rashbaum’s resignation “opens up pathways to, in exploring different defenses that may not have been previously available,” Morris said.

He also mentioned the possibility of a plea deal. “You never know,” he said.

See also:

Did dentist hire hit men to kill law prof Dan Markel, his ex-brother-in-law? ‘Absolutely no,’ he testifies

Defense blames law prof’s murder on extortion plot; lawyer ex-wife denies family involvement