The Georgia district attorney, who was criticized for her handling of the Ahmaud Arbery shooting death, lost her reelection bid this week and put much of the blame on the case, which drew national attention.
Keith Higgins, an independent, ousted Jackie Johnson, a Republican, who had served a decade as the top prosecutor in southeast Georgia’s Brunswick Judicial Circuit.
Johnson told the Associated Press that she believed Arbery’s death played a major role in her defeat.
“It was a very big factor,” Johnson said. “I’m confident that when the truth finally comes out on that, people will understand our office did what it had to under the circumstances.”
Unofficial election returns Wednesday showed Johnson carried four of the five counties in her circuit. But Glynn County, where Arbery was killed and the circuit’s most populous county, favored Higgins by a huge margin.
Johnson called the newly-elected district attorney Wednesday morning to concede the race. “I congratulated him,” Johnson said, adding that she “told him we want to have a very smooth transition into the DA’s office.”
Arbery, a black jogger, was gunned down by a white father and son who armed themselves and chased the 25-year-old man as he ran through their neighborhood outside Brunswick.
Gregory and Travis McMichael were eventually arrested on murder and aggravated assault charges. Their neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, who recorded the killing and initially claimed he had done so because he was a good Samaritan, has been charged with felony murder and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment. All three have pleaded not guilty.
Initially, no one had been charged in Arbery’s death for more than 10 weeks after the shooting. The investigation idled as the Glynn County Police Department largely looked the other way.
Calls for justice intensified after a video recording of the incident was leaked.
Three prior district attorneys assigned to the case either actively did nothing to advance it or had conflicts of interest.
Gregory McMichael was a retired investigator who had worked in Johnson’s office. Johnson cited the relationship, recused herself, and referred the police to an outside prosecutor.
Two Glynn County Commissioners accused prosecutors in Johnson’s office of telling the police not to arrest the McMichaels immediately after the shooting. Johnson has claimed neither she nor her assistants issued such guidance to police.
After the footage of Arbery’s death was leaked, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation was called in and within 48 hours had arrested the McMichaels.
Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., told Action News Jax that he believed Johnson should be behind bars too.
“I guess she just needs to be in jail right alongside the people she’s been corrupt with,” he said. “Yup, she needs to be in jail.”
