| Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr Failed to Obtain Constitutional Authority from Governor Brian Kemp to File Sweeping RICO Conspiracy Indictment More than three months after a pretrial hearing in the Stop Cop City RICO case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer dismissed Racketeering charges yesterday against 61 defendants named in an August 2023 sweeping indictment centered around their political opposition to the Atlanta Police Training Facility known as Cop City. Judge Farmer ruled that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr failed to obtain the constitutionally required authority from Governor Brian Kemp to file the indictment. Judge Farmer also ruled yesterday to uphold Domestic Terrorism charges—Count 2 of the sweeping indictment—levied against 5 Cop City defendants. Judge Farmer chose not to rule on Count 3, Arson, for the 61 defendants and remains an active charge. The Attorney General can still appeal Farmer’s ruling, or seek permission from Governor Kemp to re-indict the 61 Cop City defendants. “Police and prosecutors have been recklessly abusing the legal process to terrorize their political enemies, without regard for even basic procedural rules,” said Marlon Kautz, one of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund organizers charged with RICO. “The courts have been forced to acknowledge the defects of this case, but the story isn’t over,” continued Kautz. “Cop City defendants still face political prosecution, and the AG is determined to find a way to continue the RICO cases, but we are even more determined than ever to pursue an aggressive strategy to hold every public servant accountable for their role in the illegal arrest, prosecution, jailing, assault, and even murder of Cop City protesters. Justice for the Cop City 61 means ensuring this can never happen again to anyone.” The dismissal stems from a pretrial hearing in September for four #StopCopCity defendants–Francis Carroll, Spencer Liberto, Jamie Marsicano, and Alexis Papali–who were expecting to argue a total of 57 motions. Without hearing the of all motions, Judge Farmer cut short the hearing after an argument by attorney Andrew Hall who prompted the judge to make an unexpected tentative ruling from the bench. The dismissal comes more than two years after 61 people were indicted on State RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) charges in Fulton County. The 61 defendants, who were arrested on different dates from late 2022 to early 2023 at various locations across Georgia, have had their lives upended as a result of the felony charges. Defendants have experienced job losses, housing issues, career disruptions, and travel restrictions, in addition to the stress and anxiety that comes from the threat of years in prison hanging over their heads. “It’s beyond unacceptable that this indictment has been allowed to stand for more than two years, when its flaws should have been evident from the start,” said Reverend and Stop Cop City activist Keyanna Jones Moore. “The dozens of defendants whose lives have been upended as a result of this indictment deserve better. It shouldn’t have taken the ‘surprise’ discovery of a technical error at the 11th hour for this bogus RICO case to get thrown out.” Judge Farmer never got to the more substantive issues raised in the September pretrial hearing. RICO expert Don Samuel, who is representing the three Atlanta Solidarity Fund defendants, made one of the initial arguments in September to dismiss the indictment, which he called “extraordinary in the breadth and depth of its inadequacies.” Samuel argued that the charge of RICO failed to properly allege the elements of the offense, failed to factually identify the basis for the allegations, failed to adequately allege the dates of the offense and the dates the defendants allegedly joined the conspiracy, and failed to allege the identities of co-conspirators. Samuel also argued that the AG used the indictment to criminalize First Amendment-protected activity. At one point during the pretrial hearing, Judge Farmer likened the indictment to a poorly written political science paper. The RICO case has been plagued with problems, including a number of evidentiary issues. In addition to violating several discovery deadlines, the AG’s Office violated multiple defendants’ constitutional rights in July 2024 by sharing attorney-client privileged communications with prosecutors, police, and each RICO defense team. In September 2024, the prosecution was forced to drop money laundering charges against the three ASF defendants. In another blow to the prosecution, Domestic Terrorism charges were dismissed last summer in DeKalb County against RICO trial defendant Jamie Marsicano. Over 170 people have been arrested so far during protests against Cop City. The facility was completed this year despite mass opposition from Atlanta residents, including a multi-year campaign with a wide range of tactics from environmentalists, abolitionists, students, teachers, anarchists, Indigenous activists, faith leaders and others. A 2023 ballot initiative petition effort to put Cop City to a direct vote by Atlanta residents collected over 116,000 signatures, more than double the votes that Mayor Andre Dickens received in 2021, but local officials refused to verify the signatures. |
Fulton County Judge Officially Dismisses RICO Charges Against All 61 #StopCopCity Defendants
