Georgia prosecutors admit grave misconduct in Black activist's murder case

The Fulton County District Attorney’s office acknowledged “grave and clear” prosecutorial misconduct Wednesday in the 2002 murder conviction of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a onetime Black Panther leader, while standing by the conviction based on DNA evidence and ballistic testing. The filing accuses the original lead prosecutor, now a superior court judge, of conduct that “crossed the line from aggressive advocacy into misconduct that undermined the core principles of justice.” Al-Amin died in prison in November; his family is seeking a public hearing to clear his name.

The case, rooted in a 2000 shooting outside Al-Amin’s Atlanta home that killed one deputy and wounded another, has long divided civil rights advocates and law enforcement over both the original investigation’s conduct and the reliability of the conviction itself.

Prosecutors stand by conviction but acknowledge grave misconduct

Prosecutors in Georgia said Wednesday that new DNA evidence and ballistic testing still support the conviction of a former Black Panther leader in a 2000 shooting that killed one sheriff’s deputy and wounded another. But they also acknowledged that the original investigation and prosecution were marked by what they called “grave and clear” misconduct that “undermined the core principles of justice.”

The filing by the Fulton County District Attorney’s office centers on the conduct of Robert McBurney, the original lead prosecutor in the case against Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin. McBurney is now a superior court judge and has overseen several high-profile cases, including the special grand jury that investigated allegations of illegal interference in the 2020 election.

In the Al-Amin trial, prosecutors said McBurney crossed lines of proper conduct. During closing arguments, McBurney displayed a chart titled “Questions for the defendant” designed to draw the jury’s attention to the fact that Al-Amin did not testify. More pointedly, McBurney implored the jury, “Don’t stand for him,” a reference to Al-Amin’s religious practice of remaining seated during court proceedings.

“This case had a trifecta of issues which undermined the process and the public’s confidence in justice,” the prosecutors’ filing stated.

Federal courts have previously ruled that McBurney violated Al-Amin’s constitutional rights, though they concluded the violations were unlikely to have substantially affected the verdict.

New DNA evidence

The prosecutors’ office said it commissioned DNA testing not available at the time of the original trial. Testing of the guns used to shoot the deputies excluded Al-Amin from DNA found on both weapons. However, Al-Amin’s DNA was identified on a leather belt wrapped around one of the guns — evidence prosecutors describe as a “strong indication of his guilt” when combined with prior ballistics evidence and trial testimony.

Al-Amin’s lawyers have argued for years that nothing connected him to the weapons. The prosecutors’ acknowledgment of the DNA testing represents what they describe as a more complete examination of the forensic evidence in the case.

FBI agent misconduct

The filing also details misconduct by FBI Special Agent James Campbell. According to the prosecutors’ statement, Campbell approached Al-Amin while he was on the ground in handcuffs and kicked and spit on him, saying, “This is what we do to cop killers.”

Campbell had been transferred to Atlanta after previously shooting an unarmed Muslim man in the back of the head. Al-Amin’s lawyers have long maintained that Campbell planted the guns used in the deputies’ shooting at the arrest site. Prosecutors said Campbell’s prior shooting history should have been available for the jury to consider to demonstrate potential bias or motive to plant evidence.

“A reprimand of Campbell did not clear SA Campbell’s stain on the investigation,” prosecutors wrote.

The original shooting and conviction

On March 16, 2000, Fulton County sheriff’s deputies Ricky Kinchen and Aldranon English went to Atlanta’s West End neighborhood, where Al-Amin lived and owned a grocery store, to serve a warrant. English testified that Al-Amin fired a high-powered assault rifle during the arrest attempt. Prosecutors said Al-Amin then used a handgun to fire three shots into Kinchen’s groin as the wounded officer lay in the street. Al-Amin was arrested four days later in White Hall, Alabama, where he had helped develop a Muslim community.

Al-Amin, born Henry Raphael Brown, was a radical activist in the 1960s before converting to Islam during a prison term. He moved to Atlanta in the 1970s and became the leader of the National Ummah, one of the nation’s largest Black Muslim groups.

What comes next

Al-Amin died in prison in November. In a statement, his attorney Mawuli Davis said Al-Amin’s family wants a hearing to evaluate the entire case. “His legacy is still at the center of this,” Davis said.

The prosecutors’ office said it does not object to such a hearing, potentially opening the door to a public reexamination of a prosecution that has long divided civil rights advocates and law enforcement.