The Georgia Bureau of Investigations is broadening its investigation of Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard following his use of a subpoena to obtain police records in the Rayshard Brooks case.
Brooks, a black man, was shot and killed on June 12 by Garrett Rolfe, a white Atlanta police officer, after Brooks stole an officer’s Taser and pointed it at police as he ran away during an arrest.
Just days after the incident, Howard charged Rolfe with nearly a dozen felonies, including murder. The GBI said at the time that it was “not consulted” on the charges that the DA filed.
Howard issued a subpoena to the police department on June 13 regarding Rolfe’s “use of force incident,” according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
A city official told the newspaper that the subpoena was later withdrawn before a city official was to appear before the grand jury. In Fulton County at the time the subpoena was issued, the next grand jury was not set to convene until July.
A person who misuses a subpoena could be found in contempt of court, ordered to spend up to 20 days in jail, and face a $300 fine, the AJC reported.
Separately, state courts have ruled that due to the coronavirus pandemic, courts cannot summon citizens to sit on grand juries until at least Aug. 11.
“There isn’t a grand jury physically meeting now, and a grand jury did not, in fact, issue that subpoena,” Bruce Harvey, a criminal defense attorney in the city said of Howard. “That subpoena is plainly illegal.”
Howard’s office acknowledged in a statement issued Friday that “there has been much confusion about whether my office legally issued a grand jury subpoena on June 13″ and said there would be a grand jury regarding public corruption cases “which would be authorized to affirm the issuance of a subpoena.”
The GBI also has several other pending investigations into Howard’s conduct as district attorney.
