Court again delays racketeering trial against activist accused in violent ‘Stop Cop City’ protest
ATLANTA– A judge in Georgia has again postponed the racketeering trial of a defendant charged last summer in connection with protests against a planned police and fire training facility in the Atlanta area.
Opening arguments were expected Wednesday in the case against 19-year-old Ayla King of Massachusetts. King, who uses the pronouns they and them, is one of 61 people charged under Georgia’s Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. King is the first suspect to stand trial.
Prosecutors have characterized the people behind the “Stop Cop City” movement as a group of “militant anarchists” who have committed numerous acts of violence and vandalism against authorities and contractors involved in the project.
King faces a single charge of violating the RICO law, which carries a penalty of five to 20 years in prison, although a prison sentence is not guaranteed.
Prosecutors accuse the protesters of complicity in arson and domestic terrorism. Authorities said King and 150 to 200 other masked protesters stormed the DeKalb County construction site last March, with some setting construction equipment on fire and others throwing projectiles at retreating officers.
Activists have questioned the authorities’ evidence as protesters were arrested at a music festival about 1.2 kilometers from the construction site and more than an hour after the demonstration. King’s attorney has said the teen is “innocent of all charges.”
Wednesday’s trial was postponed as the defense argued King’s right to a speedy trial had been violated. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams seated a jury on Dec. 12 but postponed the trial for nearly a month because of the holidays, which she said would likely cause complications for many jurors.
Attorney Suri Chadha Jimenez objected to the delay and later filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that swearing in a jury was not enough to meet the criteria of a speedy trial.
The judge rejected that argument but further delayed the trial because Jimenez said he planned to appeal. It is unclear how long that will take.
Georgian law says any defendant who demands a speedy trial has the right to have it begin within the court’s deadline when the demand is filed, or in the next one, which ended last week. Trials against the other indicted protesters are not expected until this summer at the earliest.
Protesters and civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have condemned the charges against demonstrators and accused Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, of imposing heavy-handed charges in an effort to silence a movement that includes environmentalists and anti-government activists. police demonstrators. through the whole country.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other supporters say the 85-acre, $90 million police and fire training center would replace inadequate training facilities and help address problems in hiring and retaining police officers. Opponents have raised concerns that it could lead to greater militarization of police and that its construction in the South River Forest will worsen environmental damage in a poor, predominantly black area.