Georgia’s Fulton County Judge Kevin Farmer on Tuesday tossed racketeering charges against dozens of defendants accused in a yearslong conspiracy tied to a police and firefighter training facility that critics call “Cop City,” according to an order described by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and reported by The Associated Press.
In the order, Farmer said Republican Attorney General Chris Carr did not have the authority to secure the 2023 indictments under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law without permission from Gov. Brian Kemp. Carr’s office said it planned to appeal the dismissal.
Carr’s office said, “We strongly disagree with this decision and will continue to vigorously pursue this domestic terrorism case to ensure that justice is served,” according to the report. The judge’s ruling addressed the racketeering charges that were brought against a group of 61 defendants.
The racketeering case was described as the largest criminal racketeering matter filed against protesters in U.S. history, experts said. Prosecutors alleged the conspiracy aimed to halt construction of the training facility, and the charges carried potential sentences of up to 20 years in prison, according to the report.
The AP report said prosecutors alleged conduct including throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers and providing food to protesters. It also said five defendants had additional indictments for domestic terrorism and first-degree arson tied to a night in 2023.
The report described that night as one in which masked activists burned a police car in downtown Atlanta and threw rocks at a home belonging to the Atlanta Police Foundation. It said Farmer had also found that Carr lacked the authority to pursue the arson charge, while indicating that the domestic terrorism charge could likely stand.
Amanda Clark Palmer, an attorney for one of the protesters, praised Farmer’s decision. She said, “the prosecution did not follow the law when filing these charges,” the report said, citing Palmer’s remarks.
Clark Palmer said in a statement, “We are relieved the dismissal order has been entered but our relief is not complete yet as we wait to see whether the Attorney General will appeal,” according to the report.
The long-running dispute over the training center escalated in January 2023, when state troopers involved in a sweep of the South River Forest killed a 26-year-old activist known as “Tortuguita,” the AP report said. Authorities said Tortuguita fired while inside a tent near the construction site, and a prosecutor found the troopers’ actions “objectively reasonable,” the report said.
The report said Tortuguita’s family filed a lawsuit contending his hands were in the air and that troopers used excessive force when they initially fired pepper balls into the tent. It also said protests erupted, with masked vandals sometimes attacking police vehicles and construction equipment, while opponents also pursued civic actions such as pushing to fill City Council meetings and leading a referendum effort that became tied up in court.
Kemp, according to the report, hailed the case as an important step to combat “out-of-state radicals that threaten the safety of our citizens and law enforcement.” Critics described the indictment as a politically motivated, heavy-handed attempt to quash the project, the report said.