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Cop City

RICO Charges Dismissed Against 61 Cop City Activists

September 17, 2025 Dianne Mathiowetz, Workers' World. , , , ,
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.

Judge Finds Attorney General Can’t Bring RICO Charges In Cop City Case

September 10, 2025 Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot. , , ,
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.

Community Defense Against The Military Occupation Of Our Cities

August 18, 2025 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. , , , , , , , ,
On August 11, the Trump administration announced the deployment of national guard troops and the federal takeover of the police department in Washington, DC. This follows military troops being deployed to Los Angeles and ICE agents snatching people throughout the country. Last week, the Pentagon also announced the creation of a 600-member national guard unit ready to deploy to cities within an hour when there are protests. Clearing the FOG speaks with Erica Caines of the Black Alliance for Peace about the checkpoints and patrols in DC, how this fits into the long history of policing mainly black and brown communities and how people are organizing community self-defense and mutual aid. She also discusses the demand to disqualify the United States and Israel from FIFA and the Olympic games.

Cop City Defendant Has Domestic Terrorism Charge Dropped

August 16, 2025 Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot. , , ,
Atlanta, GA – Jamie Marsicano, one of dozens of defendants embroiled in the sprawling legal backlash brought against opponents of “Cop City,” had a state-level Domestic Terrorism charge dropped in DeKalb County on Thursday. The dismissal represents the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the state as it moves forward with its expansive effort to prosecute those who mobilized to stop Cop City, a massive police training compound south of metro Atlanta in the South River Forest. More than 29 months after Jamie was arrested and charged under Georgia’s domestic terrorism statute for their participation in the movement against Cop City, the state hadn’t brought an indictment against the North Carolina resident, leaving them in limbo as they waited for a decision from the court regarding their charge and potential trial.

Cop City Rico Trials Begin In Atlanta, First Case Declared A Mistrial

July 20, 2025 Aja Arnold and Sam Barnes, Unicorn Riot. , , , , ,
Atlanta, GA — The first trial in the ‘Cop City’ RICO case began the morning of July 7 in Fulton County Superior Court, with defendant Ayla King returning to court for the first time since January 2024. However, proceedings quickly came to a halt following Judge Kevin Farmer’s declaration of a mistrial and the defense’s decision to appeal the mistrial. King’s case is being heard separately from the other 60 defendants after filing for a speedy trial on Oct. 30, 2023. King is one of 61 people indicted by Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr in August 2023 on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) charges for their protest against “Cop City.”

From The Atlanta Race Massacre To Cop City: The AJC Incites Harm

July 16, 2025 Aja Arnold, Scalawag Magazine. , , , ,
On Aug. 21, 2021, the editorial board of Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) published its support for "Cop City"—a then-proposed $90 million training facility for police and fire personnel; the cost of which has since ballooned to over $109 million, according to the most recently available reports. The Atlanta City Council had tabled a vote on a lease agreement for the proposed Cop City facility just days earlier after receiving tremendous opposition from residents, activists, and environmentalists. In its letter, which ran in the legacy paper's Sunday edition, the editorial board—whose members included Kevin Riley, the paper's editor-in-chief—argued that a "crime wave" necessitated the facility's quick approval and pleaded with the city council to revisit the vote as early as its next meeting.

‘Cop City’ Leads US Buildup In Police-Training Bases

December 23, 2024 Elizabeth Vos, Consortium News. , , , , ,
After years of intense opposition that left one protester riddled by police bullets, Atlanta’s so-called Cop City is set to begin operations in the next few weeks. The city’s police chief hosted a tour of the campus last week and training programs are expected to start during the first quarter of 2025. The Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, as it is officially known, is an 85-acre campus with a price tag of at least $110 million and another $1.7 million recently approved by Atlanta’s City Council for its security. Most infamously, it includes a mock city, for which the site gained its Cop City nickname, for “real-world” training that includes a convenience store, two-story house, apartment and commercial-style building.

Parents Of Forest Defender Killed By Police File Civil Rights Lawsuit

December 21, 2024 Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot. , , , , ,
Nearly two years after police killed Terán, and a year after the state refused to bring charges against any of the state troopers responsible, Tortuguita’s parents are still seeking answers and accountability for the death of their 26-year-old child. Belkis Terán and Joel Paez, Tortuguita’s mother and father, are suing Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Ryan Long as well as Georgia State Patrol troopers Mark Lamb and Bryland Myers in federal court claiming that the raid that led to their child’s killing violated Tortuguita’s civil rights.

The State Is Wielding Grand Jury Subpoenas Against Cop City Activists

October 20, 2024 Cody Bloomfield, Truthout. , , , ,
With each passing day, the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (dubbed “Cop City” by opponents) inches toward completion. It’s been just under a year since the last Stop Cop City mass mobilization march attempted to breach the site, but the struggle against the militarized police training facility continues. Activists are organizing ping pong ball drops at city council meetings, pursuing legal remedies to recover what remains of the Weelaunee Forest, and continuing to hold teach-ins and small-scale protests. Organizers wait with bated breath for the resolution of the 61 pending RICO cases against activists.

Georgia Drops Money Laundering Charges In Cop City RICO Prosecution

September 20, 2024 Sean Summers, Unicorn Riot. , , , , ,
Atlanta, GA — Money laundering charges against three Atlanta Solidarity Fund defendants, who are among the 61 people indicted in a sprawling conspiracy lawsuit against Cop City protesters, have been dropped as of Tuesday. Last year Marlon Kautz, Adele Maclean and Savannah Patterson were indicted as part of Georgia’s wide-reaching Racketeering Influenced Criminal Organization, or RICO, case that the state filed against opponents of the multi-million dollar police training compound known as Cop City. The three organizers were arrested and charged during a raid on their home by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Atlanta Police Department in May last year.

Quiet Rollout Of Cop Cities Across The US Meets Growing Resistance

September 10, 2024 Victoria Valenzuela, Waging Nonviolence. , , , , ,
On June 11, a week after a police training facility in Richmond, California, broke ground, organizers from the Stop Cop City Bay Area Coalition marched to the Overaa Construction headquarters in protest. Citing concerns over rising police militarization and repression in the predominantly Black and Latino area, the protesters — joined by local residents — called on Overaa workers to boycott the $30 million construction deal. “By furthering the militarizing and surveillance of our city — and coordinating law enforcement resources across the region, including ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] — they’re actually making our cities into Cop Cities,” said Refilwe Gqajela, a community organizer with the Anti Police-Terror Project in California’s Bay Area.

The Goal Is To Attack A Movement

June 30, 2024 Micah Herskind, Welcome to Hell World. , , , ,
The Georgia Attorney General’s office appears to have made a major blunder in the ongoing prosecution of 61 Stop Cop City activists—one that could potentially cost the state its case altogether. According to a motion filed by attorneys for three defendants who run the nonprofit Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), Georgia Deputy Attorney General John Fowler’s prosecutorial team has extensively and brazenly violated multiple defendants’ right to attorney-client privilege. This motion is just the most recent episode in the RICO case that has been denounced by activists and legal experts as a political prosecution intended to punish and intimidate those in the Stop Cop City movement.

We’re Occupying Emory University To Demand Divestment From Israel

April 26, 2024 Narek Boyajian and Jadelynn Zhang, Mondoweiss. , , , , , , ,
In Gaza and the West Bank, over 34,000 Palestinians have been murdered since the siege began on October 7, 2023. For over 75 years, the Palestinian people have been subjected to the illegal Zionist settler colonialism and white supremacy funded by Western Powers. The violence of the Israeli regime goes beyond denying Palestinian livelihood, making it its mission to sever Palestinians from their communities, land, and history. Halfway across the world, in the heart of Atlanta, a battle rages against the encroachment of Cop City, a sprawling police training facility slated to be erected in the Weelaunee Forest.

The New Modern Day Militarized Fort!

April 4, 2024 Shaka Shakur, Black Agenda Report. , , , , ,
This week represents the first year anniversary of the State’s attack and arrest of Amin Chaoui and others who were challenging its attempt to build another kop city, this time within the Atlanta, Georgia, area. It's important to look at the creation of kop city within the larger context of State repression and the creation of an expanded police State of hyper surveillance, pushing ever greater intrusion into the private lives of the people. The repressive State relies upon the use of poor or working class folks to police and dominate other poor, oppressed and marginalized folks.

Black Women Blast Atlanta City Hall; Demand Stop To Cop City Buildout

March 25, 2024 John Zangas, DCMediaGroup. , , , ,
Atlanta, Georgia - A collective of Black Women of the Movement for Black Lives dropped a 30-foot banner under the atrium of City Hall and demanded Mayor Andre Dickens allow Atlanta residents to vote on whether or not construction of Cop City should proceed in DeKalb County. Outside Atlanta City Hall they displayed banners sewn with samples of over one hundred thousand petitions of Atlanta area residents opposed to Cop City. Several city employees watched the demonstration inside City Hall as the women chanted “Stop Cop City!” and “Black Women Oppose Cop City!”
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