The Georgia district attorney who initially oversaw the investigation of Ahmaud Arbery’s murder was unseated on Election Day. Jackie Johnson—who’s under federal investigation for her handling of Arbery’s case—lost to independent Keith Higgins by a sizable margin of 66 percent to 34 percent, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The soon-to-be-former district attorney was the first prosecutor called in to investigate the death of Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man who authorities say was shot and killed while jogging on Feb. 23 by a white man, Gregory McMichael, and his son, Travis McMichael. Johnson recused herself from the case, as Gregory McMichael was an investigator in her office, and it was handed off to a second prosecutor, who declined to bring charges. Glynn County commissioners have claimed that Johnson’s office told them not to make arrests—allegations the DA’s office deemed a “vicious lie.” Charges weren’t brought against the pair for two months—until the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case when damning video of the shooting was brought to light.
