New Future

Atlanta, GA — A Fulton County judge found Tuesday that Georgia’s attorney general lacked authority to bring racketeering charges against protesters named in the sprawling Cop City RICO case, calling into question the foundation and future of the massive legal effort to criminalize a movement.

While Judge Kevin Farmer has not yet issued an official ruling cementing his decision, his finding that the attorney general’s office doesn’t have the authority to bring Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organization, or RICO, charges in this case effectively derails the prosecution’s strategy of connecting protesters to a conspiracy against Cop City and the state itself.

Farmer indicated from the bench that he intends to dismiss conspiracy and related arson charges. If such a ruling comes down, the new vastly reduced case would only include five defendants accused of domestic terrorism, down from the 61 people currently named in the indictment.

In 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr brought a far-reaching RICO indictment against dozens of opponents of Atlanta’s recently built Public Safety Training Center, more commonly known as Cop City.

For years, a diverse movement organized to stop the expansive police training facility from being built in a wooded area south of metro Atlanta. Using a blend of tactics ranging from petition drives to sabotage, the movement to “Stop Cop City” brought national attention to the issue of policing and power in Georgia and beyond. As protests and actions took place, the state and federal government began to charge movement participants criminally, including with domestic terrorism and racketeering.

But on Tuesday, more than two years into the legal process surrounding the case, Judge Farmer found that the Attorney General lacked authority to charge the defendants under the state’s RICO statute.

Related: Cop City Defendant has Domestic Terrorism Charge Dropped

Under Georgia’s RICO legislation, in order for the attorney general to bring a RICO indictment the person indicted must be “dealing with or for the state” when committing the alleged offense. Defense attorney Andrew Hall successfully argued that his client, and others named in the indictment, were not dealing with or for the state, thereby requiring special permission from the governor for the attorney general to bring RICO charges.

“At this time, I do not find the attorney general had the authority to bring this RICO case,” Farmer said from the bench Tuesday morning.

“The mechanisms were in place, and steps just weren’t followed,” Farmer said of Carr’s failure to get permission from the governor to bring the RICO indictment against the movement to stop Cop City.

All day Monday and into Tuesday morning, lawyers representing four of the 61 defendants in the conspiracy case brought against Cop City protesters argued a list of motions to dismiss various parts of the massive indictment that implicates their clients.

One motion, brought by attorney Andrew Hall, argued the state erred when it indicted his client under the state’s RICO statute.

Hall asserted that Thomas Jurgens, who was arrested at a music festival opposing Cop City on March 5, 2023 while acting as a legal observer for the National Lawyers’ Guild, was wrongfully implicated in the conspiracy as he was not “dealing with or for the state” as part of his alleged crime.

Related: Cop City RICO Trials Begin in Atlanta, First Case Declared a Mistrial

On that basis, Hall asked the court to dismiss the only count against his client in the indictment for lack of prosecutorial authority. Judge Farmer ultimately agreed with the argument, finding that the attorney general’s office should have sought permission from the governor to bring the RICO indictment.

Farmer, while deliberating from the bench, questioned whether he should dismiss the entire indictment on these grounds or just dismiss the RICO and subsequent arson charges. While the original indictment included numerous other counts of money laundering, those were each dropped last year, leaving only the RICO, domestic terrorism and arson counts at the time of Tuesday’s hearing.

Farmer made clear that the attorney general’s office had the authority to pursue the domestic terrorism charges even if the other two counts are dismissed.

While Farmer is likely to dismiss the first and third counts in the indictment, namely RICO and arson charges, the second count of domestic terrorism may stand.

The state may appeal Farmer’s ruling, in which case the issue would return to court, but barring an appeal the RICO charges will not proceed.