Georgia
More than 200 potential jurors summoned for trial of prosecutor in Ahmaud Arbery’s death
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — More than 200 potential jurors were summoned Tuesday to a Georgia courthouse to face questions about whether they can serve impartially in the trial of a former prosecutor accused of meddling with police as they investigated the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
Jackie Johnson served as district attorney when Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was chased by three white men in pickup trucks and fatally shot on a residential street. Johnson’s misconduct trial will be held in the same courthouse where Arbery’s assailants were convicted of murder in 2021.
The threat of winter weather is causing delays. Senior Judge John R. Turner said he plans to adjourn early Tuesday ahead of forecast snow showers. He also canceled court Wednesday, when local schools will be closed because of expected snow of ice.
Officials summoned a large pool of potential jurors given the notoriety of Arbery’s killing and Johnson’s public profile during her decade as the top prosecutor in coastal Glynn County.
Superior Court Clerk Rebecca Walden said her office mailed out jury duty notices to 500 people. More than 200 had filled out and returned juror questionnaires, she said. Some others were excused from jury duty, or their mailings were returned as undeliverable.
Potential jurors will be asked what they’ve read or heard about Arbery’s killing and the case against Johnson, and whether they’re able to serve as impartial jurors. Walden said she suspects it could take a week to select a jury of 12 members plus alternates.
Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for Johnson’s office, started the pursuit with his son Travis McMichael on Feb. 23, 2020, after Arbery ran past his home just outside the port city of Brunswick. Travis McMichael killed Arbery with a shotgun at point-blank range as a neighbor who joined the chase, William “Roddie” Bryan, recorded the shooting on his cellphone. The men later said they wrongly suspected Arbery was a thief.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office is prosecuting Johnson. Prosecutors say she abused her office by trying to shield the McMichaels, who along with Bryan avoided arrest for more than two months until the shooting video leaked online.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation then took over the case from local police. All three men were arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. They were also found guilty of federal hate crimes in a separate 2022 trial.
Johnson was indicted in September 2021 on a charge of violating her oath of office, a felony punishable by one to five years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of hindering police as they investigated Arbery’s death. The indictment says Johnsons showed “favor and affection” toward Greg McMichael and interfered with police by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”
Johnson has denied wrongdoing, insisting she immediately handed the case to an outside prosecutor because of her connection to Greg McMichael. She was voted out of office in November 2020, a defeat she largely blamed on controversy over Arbery’s death.
North Carolina
School board member gets prison time after obstruction, extortion convictions
SMITHFIELD, N.C. (AP) — A central North Carolina local school board member was sentenced to active prison time after being convicted of extortion and other crimes, with some related to the attempted blackmail of a congressional candidate.
At the close of a trial Friday, jurors found Ronald Lee Johnson Jr. guilty of four counts. Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite sentenced Johnson to 6 to 17 months in prison for a felony obstruction conviction, court records show. The sentence for a felony extortion count and two counts for the willful failure to discharge his duties included probation.
Crosswhite also ordered that Johnson, 41, be removed from the Johnston County school board, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Johnson, once considered a rising star among Republicans, had narrowly won reelection in November.
The court also revoked Johnson’s law enforcement certification. Johnson is a former Smithfield police officer who was fired in late 2022 on charges of “detrimental personal conduct,” the newspaper reported.
Boz Zellinger, a special state prosecutor who handled the prosecution, told Crosswhite that Johnson “has left a wake of destruction behind him” and that active prison time was warranted.
Johnson had been accused of threatening in 2022 to release compromising audio involving congressional candidate DeVan Barbour unless Barbour got a woman that they both knew to falsely deny that she was having an extramarital affair with Johnson.
Barbour, a unsuccessful Republican candidate in 2022 and 2024, testified in the trial that concerns about the recording’s release worried him constantly leading to the 2022 GOP primary, and that he repeatedly contacted the woman asking her to deny an affair with Johnson.
While on the witness stand Thursday, Johnson denied asking Barbour to get a statement from the woman, but rather he let Barbour know about the recording to help him out.
“He didn’t release any recording or make any public statements about Mr. Barbour,” Johnson attorney Amos Tyndall said.
The obstruction of justice charge stems from allegations Johnson removed potential evidence from his office at a gym after the investigation had begun.
The convictions on failure to discharge duties relate to secret recordings of school board sessions closed to the public and allegations that Johnson retaliated against a former friend by trying to get his children transferred to a different school. The school board previously censured Johnson over the recording of closed-session meetings and the attempted transfer.
Washington
Supreme Court rejects GOP-backed Montana case based on controversial election law theory
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back an election law case out of Montana that relied on a controversial legal theory with the potential to change the way elections are run across the country.
The high court declined to hear the case in a brief order without explaining its reasoning, as is typical.
Montana was appealing a ruling that struck down two GOP-backed election laws. It’s relying on the independent state legislature theory, which holds that state judges shouldn’t be allowed to consider election cases at all.
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen argues that only lawmakers have sway over state elections under the U.S. Constitution. She asked the justices to consider the case after the state’s highest court struck down laws ending same-day voter registration and prohibiting paid ballot collection.
The Montana Democratic Party, joined by tribal organizations and youth groups, argued the laws made it more difficult for Native Americans, new voters, the elderly and those with disabilities to vote.
Courts found the laws violated the rights of voters as protected under the state constitution.
The Supreme Court largely rejected the independent state legislature theory in a 2023 case known as Moore v. Harper. That case out of North Carolina focused on a legal argument that electoral maps can’t be challenged in court.
Still, the opinion left the door open for more legal wrangling by indicating there could be limits on state court efforts to police elections.
Alabama
State supreme court grants breastfeeding women exemption from jury duty after public outcry
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Breastfeeding women in Alabama will be excused from jury duty, the state’s highest court ordered unanimously on Friday, in response to public outcry from a mother who said that she was threatened with child protective services for bringing her nursing infant into court.
The Alabama Supreme Court issued an administrative order that requires Alabama judges to have written procedures excusing breastfeeding mothers from jury duty. Previously, state code did not specifically make exemptions for nursing mothers.
“A nursing mother of an infant child clearly qualifies for the excuse from jury service” under the existing court codes, the order read. The justices added that the process of approving exemption “may be submitted by telephone, electronic mail, or in writing” ahead of jury selection. All nine justices concurred with the order.
Twenty-two states in the U.S. have bills that make specific exemptions for nursing mothers, according to a 2021 report by the National Conference of State Legislators. A similar bill was introduced in the Alabama legislature in 2022, but it was killed before it reached a vote.
The order was explicitly in response to statements from several mothers in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, who said that they were harassed and threatened by judges for bringing their breastfeeding babies in for jury duty.
Kandace Brown complained on Facebook that a Jefferson County circuit court judge threatened to call the Department of Human Resources — which includes child protective services — unless Brown arranged for someone else to pick up her 3-month-old from the courthouse. Brown said two other mothers who brought their children were told the same.
Brown also said that she submitted forms to get excused from jury duty before she was summoned to court, but was denied.
“If I’m still breastfeeding, I’m going to have to (bring the baby). I don’t have a choice. Like she would literally starve for the day or the week if I was chosen,” Brown wrote in the post.
Brown wrote that when she was finally dismissed, she was told that she would be summoned again the next day and that she would have to leave her infant at home.
“No ma’am I cannot pump and get her to take a bottle. How can you tell me how to feed my child?!” Brown wrote.
Several mothers came forward with similar stories after Brown published her story, which had more than 1,000 likes on Facebook on Saturday.
Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Shanta Owens later called the encounter a “miscommunication” to AL.com on Wednesday, adding, “The juror was indeed excused a short time after arriving for jury service, as was any other similarly situated individual called for jury service.”
Owens added that as a former nursing mother herself, she “would excuse jury service for a period of time for any individual under the circumstances.”
Alabama circuit judges have 30 days to submit the new written procedures.
More than 200 potential jurors summoned for trial of prosecutor in Ahmaud Arbery’s death
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — More than 200 potential jurors were summoned Tuesday to a Georgia courthouse to face questions about whether they can serve impartially in the trial of a former prosecutor accused of meddling with police as they investigated the 2020 killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
Jackie Johnson served as district attorney when Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, was chased by three white men in pickup trucks and fatally shot on a residential street. Johnson’s misconduct trial will be held in the same courthouse where Arbery’s assailants were convicted of murder in 2021.
The threat of winter weather is causing delays. Senior Judge John R. Turner said he plans to adjourn early Tuesday ahead of forecast snow showers. He also canceled court Wednesday, when local schools will be closed because of expected snow of ice.
Officials summoned a large pool of potential jurors given the notoriety of Arbery’s killing and Johnson’s public profile during her decade as the top prosecutor in coastal Glynn County.
Superior Court Clerk Rebecca Walden said her office mailed out jury duty notices to 500 people. More than 200 had filled out and returned juror questionnaires, she said. Some others were excused from jury duty, or their mailings were returned as undeliverable.
Potential jurors will be asked what they’ve read or heard about Arbery’s killing and the case against Johnson, and whether they’re able to serve as impartial jurors. Walden said she suspects it could take a week to select a jury of 12 members plus alternates.
Greg McMichael, a retired investigator for Johnson’s office, started the pursuit with his son Travis McMichael on Feb. 23, 2020, after Arbery ran past his home just outside the port city of Brunswick. Travis McMichael killed Arbery with a shotgun at point-blank range as a neighbor who joined the chase, William “Roddie” Bryan, recorded the shooting on his cellphone. The men later said they wrongly suspected Arbery was a thief.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s office is prosecuting Johnson. Prosecutors say she abused her office by trying to shield the McMichaels, who along with Bryan avoided arrest for more than two months until the shooting video leaked online.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation then took over the case from local police. All three men were arrested, convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. They were also found guilty of federal hate crimes in a separate 2022 trial.
Johnson was indicted in September 2021 on a charge of violating her oath of office, a felony punishable by one to five years in prison, and a misdemeanor count of hindering police as they investigated Arbery’s death. The indictment says Johnsons showed “favor and affection” toward Greg McMichael and interfered with police by “directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest.”
Johnson has denied wrongdoing, insisting she immediately handed the case to an outside prosecutor because of her connection to Greg McMichael. She was voted out of office in November 2020, a defeat she largely blamed on controversy over Arbery’s death.
North Carolina
School board member gets prison time after obstruction, extortion convictions
SMITHFIELD, N.C. (AP) — A central North Carolina local school board member was sentenced to active prison time after being convicted of extortion and other crimes, with some related to the attempted blackmail of a congressional candidate.
At the close of a trial Friday, jurors found Ronald Lee Johnson Jr. guilty of four counts. Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite sentenced Johnson to 6 to 17 months in prison for a felony obstruction conviction, court records show. The sentence for a felony extortion count and two counts for the willful failure to discharge his duties included probation.
Crosswhite also ordered that Johnson, 41, be removed from the Johnston County school board, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Johnson, once considered a rising star among Republicans, had narrowly won reelection in November.
The court also revoked Johnson’s law enforcement certification. Johnson is a former Smithfield police officer who was fired in late 2022 on charges of “detrimental personal conduct,” the newspaper reported.
Boz Zellinger, a special state prosecutor who handled the prosecution, told Crosswhite that Johnson “has left a wake of destruction behind him” and that active prison time was warranted.
Johnson had been accused of threatening in 2022 to release compromising audio involving congressional candidate DeVan Barbour unless Barbour got a woman that they both knew to falsely deny that she was having an extramarital affair with Johnson.
Barbour, a unsuccessful Republican candidate in 2022 and 2024, testified in the trial that concerns about the recording’s release worried him constantly leading to the 2022 GOP primary, and that he repeatedly contacted the woman asking her to deny an affair with Johnson.
While on the witness stand Thursday, Johnson denied asking Barbour to get a statement from the woman, but rather he let Barbour know about the recording to help him out.
“He didn’t release any recording or make any public statements about Mr. Barbour,” Johnson attorney Amos Tyndall said.
The obstruction of justice charge stems from allegations Johnson removed potential evidence from his office at a gym after the investigation had begun.
The convictions on failure to discharge duties relate to secret recordings of school board sessions closed to the public and allegations that Johnson retaliated against a former friend by trying to get his children transferred to a different school. The school board previously censured Johnson over the recording of closed-session meetings and the attempted transfer.
Washington
Supreme Court rejects GOP-backed Montana case based on controversial election law theory
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back an election law case out of Montana that relied on a controversial legal theory with the potential to change the way elections are run across the country.
The high court declined to hear the case in a brief order without explaining its reasoning, as is typical.
Montana was appealing a ruling that struck down two GOP-backed election laws. It’s relying on the independent state legislature theory, which holds that state judges shouldn’t be allowed to consider election cases at all.
Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen argues that only lawmakers have sway over state elections under the U.S. Constitution. She asked the justices to consider the case after the state’s highest court struck down laws ending same-day voter registration and prohibiting paid ballot collection.
The Montana Democratic Party, joined by tribal organizations and youth groups, argued the laws made it more difficult for Native Americans, new voters, the elderly and those with disabilities to vote.
Courts found the laws violated the rights of voters as protected under the state constitution.
The Supreme Court largely rejected the independent state legislature theory in a 2023 case known as Moore v. Harper. That case out of North Carolina focused on a legal argument that electoral maps can’t be challenged in court.
Still, the opinion left the door open for more legal wrangling by indicating there could be limits on state court efforts to police elections.
Alabama
State supreme court grants breastfeeding women exemption from jury duty after public outcry
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Breastfeeding women in Alabama will be excused from jury duty, the state’s highest court ordered unanimously on Friday, in response to public outcry from a mother who said that she was threatened with child protective services for bringing her nursing infant into court.
The Alabama Supreme Court issued an administrative order that requires Alabama judges to have written procedures excusing breastfeeding mothers from jury duty. Previously, state code did not specifically make exemptions for nursing mothers.
“A nursing mother of an infant child clearly qualifies for the excuse from jury service” under the existing court codes, the order read. The justices added that the process of approving exemption “may be submitted by telephone, electronic mail, or in writing” ahead of jury selection. All nine justices concurred with the order.
Twenty-two states in the U.S. have bills that make specific exemptions for nursing mothers, according to a 2021 report by the National Conference of State Legislators. A similar bill was introduced in the Alabama legislature in 2022, but it was killed before it reached a vote.
The order was explicitly in response to statements from several mothers in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham, who said that they were harassed and threatened by judges for bringing their breastfeeding babies in for jury duty.
Kandace Brown complained on Facebook that a Jefferson County circuit court judge threatened to call the Department of Human Resources — which includes child protective services — unless Brown arranged for someone else to pick up her 3-month-old from the courthouse. Brown said two other mothers who brought their children were told the same.
Brown also said that she submitted forms to get excused from jury duty before she was summoned to court, but was denied.
“If I’m still breastfeeding, I’m going to have to (bring the baby). I don’t have a choice. Like she would literally starve for the day or the week if I was chosen,” Brown wrote in the post.
Brown wrote that when she was finally dismissed, she was told that she would be summoned again the next day and that she would have to leave her infant at home.
“No ma’am I cannot pump and get her to take a bottle. How can you tell me how to feed my child?!” Brown wrote.
Several mothers came forward with similar stories after Brown published her story, which had more than 1,000 likes on Facebook on Saturday.
Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Shanta Owens later called the encounter a “miscommunication” to AL.com on Wednesday, adding, “The juror was indeed excused a short time after arriving for jury service, as was any other similarly situated individual called for jury service.”
Owens added that as a former nursing mother herself, she “would excuse jury service for a period of time for any individual under the circumstances.”
Alabama circuit judges have 30 days to submit the new written procedures.
