– Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023 –
Good morning. In today’s public safety newsletter for Coastal Georgia, we’re covering continued delays in the prosecution of Jackie Johnson, an investigation update on school shooting hoaxes which locked down Coastal Georgia schools and a new federal probe into how the city of Brunswick tried to shut down a homeless shelter.
For questions, comments or story ideas, you can reach me at jake.shore@thecurrentga.org.
Stop-and-go prosecution
Weeks after a report on the significant delays in the criminal case against Jackie Johnson — the former Brunswick-area district attorney accused of interfering in Ahmaud Arbery’s death investigation — the judge in the case tried to get things moving.
Retired Senior Bulloch County Superior Court Judge John Turner filed an order on Sept. 25 approving a request by Johnson’s lawyer, Brian Steel of Atlanta, and put in place deadlines for Steel to file documents. The order ended an eight-month drought in court activity in the case, largely caused by Steel’s commitment to his other clients, namely rapper Young Thug in a Fulton County racketeering case.
But Turner’s new deadline of Oct. 9 has come and gone. A Glynn County Superior Court clerk told me on Wednesday there have been no filings since the judge’s order, indicating Steel missed the deadline.
The order and subsequent missed deadline highlight the stop-and-go nature of the prosecution of former DA Johnson, whom a grand jury indicted more than two years ago on charges she tried to cover for the three white men convicted of killing Arbery, a Black jogger in Brunswick. One of the men, Greg McMichael, previously worked as an investigator for Johnson at the DA’s office. She has pleaded not guilty.
You can read our story here for the latest on the case.
Update on school shooting hoaxes
On Nov. 30, 2022, at least seven Georgia schools received fake active shooter reports, sending schools into lockdown and law enforcement rushing to respond.
Three of those schools were in Coastal Georgia — Savannah Early College High School, Brunswick High School and Camden County High School. They were part of a coordinated campaign to terrorize more than 500 U.S. schools and tie up law enforcement activities in the past year, according to a recent report by The Washington Post.
The FBI has been investigating the phenomenon, known as “swatting,” where numerous local schools are targeted for shooting hoaxes. The Post’s look at the investigation found some progress: police identified a similar-sounding voice with a thick accent initiating the nationwide hoax calls, they discovered the internet-calling platform, called TextNow, the swatter(s) used, and authorities traced their activity to Ethiopia.
While the investigation is still officially ongoing, The Post highlighted a recent Utah presentation given to local lawmakers which revealed that the perpetrator used “sophisticated measures to remain anonymous,” but the FBI had “determined the originating source.”
Read more from our past coverage of the shooting hoax at Savannah High.
DOJ investigates Brunswick
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is investigating the city of Brunswick for its efforts to shut down a homeless shelter.
The stunning development was first reported by The Brunswick News on Wednesday, revealing that the DOJ planned to look into potential violations of Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The investigation will probe if city officials violated that law by seeking to declare The Well, a shelter operated by a religious organization, a public nuisance.
The DOJ requested copies of numerous types of documents and Brunswick zoning ordinances, as well as urged the city to cease enforcement of ordinances restricting homelessness while the investigation takes place.
In August, The Current reported on the extraordinary effort by the city to close The Well, which relied on misleading crime statistics and forced homeless individuals out with nowhere to go. The city has claimed that the homeless shelter has contributed to increased crime in downtown Brunswick.
One step forward, one step back in prosecution of Jackie Johnson in Arbery case
Former Brunswick area district Attorney Jackie Johnson prosecution faces repeated delays due to her lawyer’s other commitments, even after a judge set new deadlines to get the Ahmaud Arbery interference case moving.
Jackie Johnson prosecution turns two years old amid delays caused by her lawyer
Two years after a former Brunswick-area district attorney was indicted for alleged meddling in the Ahmaud Arbery investigation, delays mar her case. Some point to Jackie Johnson’s own lawyer, who is tied up in another case in Atlanta.
Governor’s priority school safety training bill passes Georgia House despite gun safety concerns
sets up a school safety and anti-gang training program for educators, encourages colleges and universities that train teachers to include safety and gang lessons in their lesson plans, requires schools to submit their safety plans to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and requires all schools to hold an annual intruder alert drill.
Brunswick blames crime on homeless shelter and sues to shut it
Christian clergy run Brunswick’s only homeless day shelter. The city is suing to close it, leaving 100 people without services.
Disagreements over care for homeless population in Brunswick leaves dozens with nowhere to go
City, business owners disagree with churches on how to provide care for unhoused residents.
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