In 2023, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr brought RICO charges against 61 opponents of the “Cop City” training facility, alleging the protest movement was akin to an organized crime syndicate. Under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, prosecutors need merely to show the existence of a criminal enterprise under which any member is liable to be charged as an accessory to the group’s overall crimes.
While the notion that distributing fliers or camping in the forest or even marching in a street protest is “engagement in a criminal enterprise” is patently absurd, the consequences for the 61 mostly youthful defendants have been exceedingly difficult. Nevertheless, the solidarity of the defendants and supporters has been evident throughout the long drawn-out legal proceedings. No one has conceded to the pressure and taken a plea, no doubt frustrating and mystifying the prosecution.
Finally after months and months of delay, all 61, in orange jumpsuits, sat in Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer’s courtroom on Sept. 8 to begin their trial.
Well-known defense attorney Don Samuel opened with a vigorous denunciation of the entire case as “an assault on the right of people to protest” and urged the judge “to put a stop to this.” With a lineup of other defense attorneys ready to go through a number of additional motions, Judge Farmer took a break and returned to say, “At this time I do not find the attorney general had the authority to bring this RICO case.”
With that statement, 100 pages of the state’s 109-page indictment were dismissed. Farmer’s ruling is based on the Attorney General’s office’s failure to follow legal procedure in pursuing the indictments. Once the district attorneys for Fulton and DeKalb Counties had declined to prosecute the charges, the state had no authority to do so unless Carr had sought special permission from Georgia Governor Brian Kemp as required by the law.
Judge Farmer determined that no such permission was sought or given. Farmer is not the first Fulton County judge to criticize the state’s mishandling of the Cop City case. Previously, Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams found that Carr’s office had committed “gross negligence” by allowing privileged attorney-client emails to be shared improperly, another legal error.
Judge Farmer issued his decision in writing on the morning of Sept. 10 while preparations for a celebratory party were taking place on the sidewalk outside the court building. There was music, food, long-used “Stop Cop City” signs and banners and a crowd of family and supporters to greet the defendants and their lawyers.
Carr, who is an announced candidate for governor of Georgia, has indicated his intention to appeal. This was not his first legal defeat. In September 2024 indictments were dismissed against three well-respected members of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund who had been charged with money laundering and were named more than 120 times in the charging documents. Multiple police agencies in military-style vehicles had blocked off their quiet East Atlanta home to effectuate their dramatic arrests, filmed and photographed by all the city’s news agencies.
While this is a significant victory in derailing the use of RICO charges against a diverse number of activists, defense attorney Xavier de Janon noted that there are people still facing unindicted domestic terrorism charges in DeKalb County as well as misdemeanors connected to protests who need support.
