More than three months after signaling he would, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer issued an order Tuesday dismissing racketeering charges against dozens of activists who protested against Atlanta’s Public Safety Training Center.
In his order, Farmer said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr did not have the authority to bring the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act charges and had to seek permission from Gov. Brian Kemp to do so, but did not in this case.
“If the AG had sought and received permission from the governor to bring RICO charges, the check on the division of powers would be satisfied,” Farmer wrote. “And that permission may still be sought and the charges brought properly, but they were not in this case.”
Carr’s office said Tuesday that they plan to appeal. Still, the order deals a major blow to Carr’s office, which brought the massive case against 61 protesters two years ago.
Now, just a handful of defendants remain who continue to face arson and state domestic terrorism charges.
“We strongly disagree with this decision and will continue to vigorously pursue this domestic terrorism case to ensure that justice is served,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
Farmer originally announced his intention to dismiss the RICO charges during a September hearing, where defense attorneys argued that the Georgia Constitution limits the authority of the attorney general to prosecute criminal actions in the courts of the state, thus a dismissal of the case was warranted.
During the hearing, Farmer told John Fowler, the state’s lead prosecutor, that all the attorney general’s office needed to do was ask Kemp for permission.
“The mechanisms were in place and the steps just weren’t followed,” Farmer said in September.
In his order, Farmer said the attorney general’s powers “must not intrude upon those constitutionally granted to the District Attorneys of the state.”
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston originally declined to bring charges against protesters citing differences in “prosecutorial philosophy” with the attorney general’s office.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Fowler disagreed with Farmer’s assessment and said in September the state would appeal.
Carr is battling for the Republican nomination for governor and has made his law enforcement record a central part of his campaign.
In September, a spokesperson for Kemp issued a statement saying that the governor “strongly supported” law enforcement, the construction and operation of the training center and “prosecution of these 61 criminals who endangered the lives of public safety officers and civilians through their violent actions.”
“Nothing in the Court’s statements from (September) should create any doubt about our support of this prosecution, and we’ll continue to do everything in our power to hold these individuals accountable,” the spokesperson said.
Attorney Amanda Clark Palmer, who represents protester Timothy Bilodeau, on Tuesday called the state’s case a “bloated, tortured and overblown prosecution” that has finally come to its merciful end.
“Judge Farmer correctly dismissed the indictment because the prosecution did not follow the law when filing these charges. 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,” Clark Palmer said in a statement.
A total of 61 protesters were charged in August 2023 with violating the state’s RICO Act. Some faced additional charges of money laundering, which were dropped in September 2024, as well as domestic terrorism and arson.
During the September hearing, Farmer indicated he would dismiss the arson charges too, after defense attorneys argued the attorney general’s office didn’t have authority to prosecute those charges or violations of Georgia’s domestic terrorism statute and the state’s gang statute.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
However, he did not issue an order Tuesday dismissing those charges. In a separate order, Farmer said the state’s domestic terrorism statue is “neither unconstitutionally overbroad nor unconstitutionally vague” in a rebuttal to other arguments by defense attorneys.
Only five out of the originally 61 protesters indicted still face arson and domestic terrorism charges. Those charges stem from allegedly attempting to “destroy and disable critical infrastructure” by committing arson and setting ablaze Atlanta Police vehicles, a bank and the 191 Peachtree tower, where the Atlanta Police Foundation is located, back in January 2023.
The sweeping indictment alleged the large group of protesters who had tried to stop construction of the training center was part of an “extremist” group that sought to occupy the forest land on which the center was built.
The indictment, which accused many of the protesters of being “anarchists” and “domestic terrorists,” was widely criticized by defense attorneys, some of whom said they thought Carr overstepped his authority.
The training center was one of the city’s most highly debated projects and often led to clashes between police and protesters. An effort to bring a referendum to a ballot is still in limbo as the case is stuck in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals with no indication on when the court might rule.
The training center, which city officials touted was needed for the city’s police force since it was proposed by then-Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, officially opened in April.
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